


A More Enlightened World

by quietprofanity



Series: Yin, Yang and Squiggly Universe [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Child Abuse, Futanari, Knotting, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mind Control, Mindfuck, Multi, People Being Triggered, Sex Trafficking, Sexual Harassment, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-28 07:47:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 105,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietprofanity/pseuds/quietprofanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Omegaverse AU. Fifty-five years ago, the lives of Yins were radically changed when the young United Republic of Nations approved the sale of suppressants. But decades later there remain Yangs who want to regain their former supremacy, including a dangerous sex trafficker used to getting his way. Can Avatar Korra stop him, especially after he starts to come for her friends?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story portrays our heroes as biological sex freaks in a pansexual world so f/m, m/m and f/f should be taken as a given.
> 
> It also acts as a sequel to my ATLA fanfics "Yin, Yang and Squiggly" and "Indecision Point" but I'm hoping it can stand on its own if you're just in it for the current TV show. Enjoy!

~*~*~

It all started with a little tug.

Korra was standing near the concession booth at the Golden Lion-Turtle Theater, waiting for Mako to get out of the bathroom, when she felt the boy pull on the pelt around her waist. When Korra thought about the incident months later, after the whole heartbreaking business was over, she realized she never asked his name. She’d just met so many of them; had had so many similar conversations in the last two months.

“You’re the Avatar, right?” he asked, his bright green eyes glassy and wide. He couldn’t have been older than ten. He didn’t even have a scent. “I was an earthbender. Can you help me?”

“Sure, buddy.” Korra gave the boy what she hoped was an assuring smile as she stepped down on one knee, placed one thumb on his heart and the other on his forehead.

It only lasted a minute, but it was enough to spur a murmur throughout the theater’s lobby. A small crowd formed around her. Korra exhaled, tried to mentally brace herself. Tenzin had put advertisements in the paper informing victims of Amon that they could set up an appointment at the island and get their bending back, but they weren’t seen by everyone and scenes like this – at restaurants, at parks, on the street – had become all too common.

“Avatar Korra,” pleaded a shabbily-dressed Yin woman in her late thirties. “Can I have my bending back too?”

“And me!” said a Yang teenager standing next to her.

“My waterbending!”

“My earthbending!”

“Please, my family have been firebenders for generations. I want it back!”

“Hold on,” Korra implored the crowd. “I’ll get to everybody, I promise.” She took the Yin woman’s hand, tried not to look at the tears forming in her eyes. Korra would do this as many times as she needed to and do it gladly, but she wasn’t sure if she would ever get a handle on the emotions involved. People would cry, would faint, would babble about how sad and useless they felt after they’d had their bending taken away. (Tahno actually kissed her after she’d given him his bending back. Mako had snarled at him for it, but their former rival had insisted that, as another Yang, Korra wasn’t his type even though he “wouldn’t say no to some real crazy stuff.” Korra sent him away before Mako could do something stupid.) It wasn’t that Korra didn’t understand what they were going through. It was that she understood too well, and it was a bit too easy to relive how she had felt.

When Korra was done with the woman, about three other people tried to surge forward. Korra repeated that she’d get to them one at a time, but some were still impatient. She was half-way through fixing a Yin teen boy’s earthbending when an older Yang male pushed him out of Korra’s hands.

“Hey!” Korra yelled at the man as she came out of the Avatar State. “Don’t do that! I could have hurt him.”

Shamed, the Yang babbled out an apology, but Korra was momentarily distracted when she caught Mako’s smell. Even with their greater presence in society in recent years, some Yangs still couldn’t recognize the scent of an in-between, usually mistook them for Yins despite the territorial pheromones they exuded. But having grown up among Katara and Tenzin, the scent would always be familiar to Korra.

“Mako!” Korra called out. She finally him saw as he pushed his way, shoulder-first, through the crowd.

Mako didn’t need to be asked what to do. He knew the drill by now. “Okay, everyone,” he called out. “We’re forming a line. Now!”

A few people in the crowd made some minute, unsure shuffles into slightly less wide crowd, but most, fearing they’d lose their spot, stood their ground. Mako started directing people where to stand, then, and after a few arguments with some of the more stubborn Yangs the crowd was finally forced into a line, which Korra dealt with easily.

“I think she’s the last one,” Mako said as he led a young girl by the hand up to Korra.

By this time the lobby was pretty much empty. Most of the patrons had gone home or into the next performance of “The Passion of Omashu,” leaving only the three of them and the cranky Yang teenage boy selling chestnuts and fire flakes.

Korra looked the girl over, a tight feeling in her chest. The girl’s gray and green cheongsam was frayed at the edges, her long black hair uneven and tangled, the skin of her pale hands chapped and red. She had small, rounded features that made her seem incredibly young – if Korra had to guess she would have pegged her at around nine-years-old – but the girl had a strong Yin scent that must have put her at eleven, at the very least. Such a nice scent, too, Korra thought.

“Hey, pretty girl,” Korra said. She had the urge to hug her, but she knew how inappropriate that would be. “What’s your name?”

Mako raised an eyebrow.

The little girl gulped. Korra thought she saw the girl squeeze Mako’s hand as she spoke. “Shuchun. I … I heard the Avatar helps people.”

“That’s right!” Korra moved closer to Shuchun, put her hands on her heart and forehead. She seemed incredibly warm. “Don’t worry. This won’t hurt.”

Korra felt herself slip into the Avatar State. She tried to feel along Shuchun’s chi lines, find the broken connection to her bending and heal it.

It wasn’t there.

Korra came out of the Avatar State, stared at Shuchun’s nervous, trembling face. Did she do something wrong? Mako was looking at Shuchun strangely too. He sniffed the air over her head.

Korra decided to give it another shot. She searched along the energy lines in Shuchun’s body from head to toe, then searched again, then searched one more time.

“Shuchun?” Korra asked as she let her go, came out of the Avatar State again. “Were you ever a bender?”

Shuchun’s bottom lip started to tremble. “Th-They said you could help me. My … my brother,” Shuchun clasped her hands to her heart, let out a loud wail. “He still has my older brother.”

Clarity finally hit Korra. Her heart rate increased placed her hands on Shuchun’s shoulders. The cloth of her dress was damp with sweat. “Who has your older brother?”

“Korra,” Mako interrupted. “I think something’s wrong with her. Her scent isn’t …”

Shuchun let out a cry, collapsed to her knees with her hands clasped over her groin. Korra immediately reared back, covered her nose and her mouth with her hands. She’d been such an idiot. She knew the signs of heat, had even felt Shuchun’s hormones playing with her brain, but somehow it hadn’t connected.

“Hey!” the concession stand guy screamed at them. He held a dirty rag over his own nose and mouth. “Get that girl out of here now! You want to cause a public health hazard?”

Korra growled at him. “You’re a public health hazard.” She circled her arms, trying her best to clear the air and disperse the smell of heat. Mako had already tied his scarf tightly across his nose and mouth. He picked Shuchun up, his arms beneath her shoulders and knees. Shuchun squirmed in Mako’s grip as they made their way toward the exit.

“Hey, don’t try to help, or anything,” Mako yelled to the concessions stand guy as he pushed open the door with his back.

“Up yours, pervert.”

Korra snarled at him, was ready to leap across the concessions stand and slam the guy’s face into it, but Mako told her to forget about it.

They left the theater, rushed to around the back where Naga waited for them.

Korra could hear Shuchun moaning as they climbed onto the polar bear-dog’s back. She took off one of her wristbands, held it against her nose. “Where do you live?” she asked Shuchun. “Where are your parents?”

Shuchun shook her head. “No parents. My brother … Please, help my brother.”

“We’ve got to get her to a safehouse,” Mako said.

Korra shuddered. She’d heard about safehouses. Run by Yins and guarded by Yangs, safehouses were places where poor Yins could wait out their heats free of charge, but they had a reputation for being filthy and degrading places to be. News stories and one-yuan paperbacks were chock full of details about bedsheets covered in stains, walls dripping with mold, broken locks and … well, Korra didn’t even want to think about the toys.

Korra looked back at Shuchun. Her face was scrunched up and her eyes wet with tears.

“Can’t we bring her back to the island? They have a lot of rooms for Yins there.”

Mako shook his head. “They won’t let Yins in heat anywhere near the docks. We’d be harassed within five blocks, anyway.”

“You really think your average Yang will try to fight off Naga?”

“Well… okay, maybe not. But some of them might be dumb enough to try. Unless you can fly or swim her to the island on your own?”

Korra wasn’t sure. Just being near Shuchun was making her antsy, even with her nose covered and her occasional airbending away the most potent Yin smells. If she tried to bring all of them on Naga through the water, the scent in that air bubble would quickly get unbearable. If she flew, she’d have to be carrying Shuchun the whole way and trying to keep her own Yang instincts in check could be beyond her.

“Maybe if I tried the Avatar State …”

“Look, I can guess what you’re thinking,” Mako said. “Bolin hated those places. I used to go without food to buy him suppressants so I wouldn’t have to leave him there. But I really don’t think we have a better choice.”

Korra ran the fingers of her free hand through Naga’s fur. Her polar bear-dog whined in response. Korra didn’t like to think of Mako or Bolin in a situation like that, didn’t want to put a girl who was probably barely older than Jinora in it. But she grabbed the reins and spurred Naga forward.

The nearest safehouse ended up being only a few minutes away. As soon as they arrived Mako slid off Naga’s back, Shuchun hooked over his shoulder, and ran toward the entrance. Korra stayed behind. Even though she had the instinct to defend Shuchun, she knew that it was best for the both of them if she kept as far away as possible.

Korra put her wristband back on, looked over the safehouse. From the outside, Korra supposed it didn’t look so bad: a squat, brown building about four stories tall, the only decorations were a Yin-Yang symbol on the door and a tiled green awning held up by detailed wooden supports over the front door steps. A thick bruiser of a man – light brown skin, dark hair, about seven feet tall – stood watch.

Naga sniffed the air and let out a low growl. Korra brushed the fur on her neck, trying to assure her. When Korra looked up, there was a young woman standing near the door.

The bruiser tensed as she approached. The woman looked pretty, although Korra wondered how much of that was due to her makeup: black shadows around the eyes and red lips the color of a stoplight. With her dark skin and black hair – which was looped on either side of her face with green beads and piled up in a high bun atop her head – Korra would have pegged her as a Water Tribe girl. Yet her nearly-skintight blue silk cheongsam slit up the sides and decorated with what looked like flowers stitched in green didn’t resemble any clothes from the South or North poles. The outfit didn’t interest Korra as much as what was strapped to her waist – on one hip was something Korra thought was a water skein, on the other a small, lumpy bag.

The woman and the guard were speaking about something Korra couldn’t quite hear. In a few moments their voices were louder; they seemed to be arguing but since it was still unintelligible Korra just tried to ignore it. Then Mako came out of the door, and the woman covered her face, grabbed onto the bruiser by his jacket and sobbed.

“Stay here, girl.” Korra whispered to Naga. She made her way toward the safehouse.

“Miss, I told you this already,” the bruiser said as he pushed the woman away. “The law is that Yins who’ve been checked in aren’t allowed out until their heat is over. No exceptions.”

The woman let out a howl, covered her face. “You don’t understand. This man … this, this awful man! He kidnapped my younger sister.”

“What?” Mako asked. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen this woman before. My bondmate and I were at the theater for a date and–”

“Oh, listen to his lies! He’s always wanted poor Shuchun for himself, wanted to take him away from our family.”

“So I took her to a safehouse?” Mako asked. “How does that make any sense?”

Korra didn’t wait for the woman to reply. She grabbed her by the shoulders, twisted her hands in the woman’s dress as she lifted her up just high enough so her toes were scraping the top step.

“That’s enough!” Korra said. “Why do you want Shuchun? Answer now!”

The woman didn’t answer. She let her eyes roam over Korra’s body, curled her mouth into a slow smile. (Was she a Yin, then? Korra tried to smell her but was hit with a thick coat of perfume similar to the type Asami wore when Korra first met her.) “And who might this fine specimen of Yang be?” she asked, licking her lips.

Ugh. Was this girl serious? “The Avatar,” Korra spat. She cocked her head in Mako’s direction. “And his bondmate.”

The woman’s seductive expression immediately melted. Korra put her on the ground.

“Would have thought someone like you would have needed a real Yin to satisfy,” the woman purred. “There are some dark edges to our spiritual leader, eh?”

“Can it,” Korra growled. “Shuchun never mentioned a sister. Who are you? No lies this time.”

“Tukiko,” the woman said. “And it doesn’t matter if I’m not really her sister. She belongs to us, to our pack.”

Mako’s eyes widened. He stepped closer to Tukiko, his mouth curled in a snarl. “You stay away from that girl.”

Korra blinked, stared at the both of them. Something had completely gone over her head.

The bruiser seemed to understand, though. He took her by the arm and pushed her hard so that she stumbled down the stairs. “Out! If I see you near here again, the Vice Squad is hauling your butt to jail.”

Tukiko winced. She rubbed her arm, seemed genuinely hurt, but when she looked back at all of them her eyes were blazing with anger. She dug into the bag on her hip. “If you want to catch me,” she snarled, “you’ll need to send the metalbenders.”

She sliced her arm through the air like a sword. Korra felt herself being hit on her forehead, her shoulder, her abdomen, her thigh, and while the hits didn’t break the skin they stung. When Korra recovered from the volley, she heard a rolling sound, saw a bunch of small, smooth rocks return to Tukiko. She scooped them up in her hand and ran.

“An earthbender!” Korra looked back at the others. The guard was on his knees, his beefy arms wrapped around his stomach. Mako had also been knocked on his butt, had his hand clasped over his left eye.

“Mako?”

“I’ll be okay,” he said. “Go after her. I’ll catch up.”

Korra didn’t quite believe him, but broke into a run anyway, bending the air behind her to propel her forward and make up for lost time. Tukiko must have heard her. She turned around and stomped on the ground, giving Korra barely a second to jump as the streets shot up beneath her.

When her feet hit the ground, Korra took up her run again. She saw a puddle left over from the previous day’s rain, bent it toward Tukiko and froze it to ice beneath her foe’s feet. Tukiko skidded on the ice and fell, but when Korra was within reach of her Tukiko grabbed her rocks again, rolled them along the ground so Korra was the one who slipped.

Korra felt the streets rise and encase around her torso, holding her to the ground. Pinned, Korra tried a blast of fire, but Tukiko was able to dodge it. She tried air next, but by that point Tukiko had slipped into one of the alleyways.

Korra growled. She slipped into the Avatar State to break out of the earth around her, then used it to fly to the top of the highest building around. Korra came out of the Avatar State upon landing, looked as far as she could for Tukiko’s blue and green outfit, but couldn’t find her.

Using some wind gusts, Korra gently buffeted herself down to the ground. In the distance, she saw Naga rushing toward her, Mako close on the polar bear-dog’s heels.

“I probably should have had you run after her, girl,” Korra said as she hugged Naga’s neck. Then she got better look at Mako. His eye was closed shut, had grown purple and swollen. “Ouch. She got you good.”

“Yeah,” he winced as Korra stroked her fingers along the bruise. “I talked with the guard. He was hit hard in the stomach but he says he’ll be fine.”

“Anyone calling the police?”

“The guard refused. He says he’s gotten into a lot of fights with prostitutes ready to bring Yins back to their rings and unless he has them ready for arrest he doesn’t bother to …”

“Woah, woah,” Korra pulled her hands away. “Back up. ‘Prostitute?’ ‘Ring?’”

For a minute, Mako stared at her through his good eye like she was an idiot. Then he shook his head. “Sometimes I forget you’re not from here. Yeah, she’s a prostitute. I knew it as soon as she said ‘our pack.’ It’s slang for a sex trafficking triad.”

Korra’s mouth dropped open. Then she growled. She leaped onto Naga.

“Korra?”

“We have to go back and get Shuchun,” Korra said, pulling Naga’s reins so she moved back in the direction of the safehouse.

Mako laid a hand on Naga’s muzzle. The polar bear-dog growled beneath it, but Mako didn’t move. “We can’t take her out, Korra. I’ve heard of Yangs who were almost sent to prison for trying to spring their bondmates.”

“I don’t care if it’s against the rules! That woman wants to hurt her and we need to get her away from here!”

“Look, it’s … what time was it when the show ended? Seven? It has to be about nine now. We’ll come back early in the morning and be ready to get her out of here after her heat ends around noon. Okay?”

Korra sighed. Naga looked back at her, cocked her head as if she was waiting for a decision. Korra finally nodded and reached out a hand to help Mako onto Naga’s back.

The two of them didn’t speak for a while. Korra began to feel tired. At one point she dozed sitting up and felt herself jarred awake as she started to keel over.

“You okay?” Mako asked.

“Mmm, yeah,” Korra said. She stretched her arms as she yawned, then rolled her shoulders. “I think I’m just sort of crashing after everything. I’ll fix your eye when we get back and then hit the hay.”

She felt Mako’s hand rub along her back. She smiled.

“Some end to a date, huh?” Korra asked.

“Yeah,” Mako chuckled. “So ... did you like the play?”

Korra bit her lip. “Well, I don’t know. It was really long. I liked it better when you took me to that place with the actors in the funny hats.”

“You mean the nickelodeon?”

“Yeah,” Korra said. “That. It was funny when they pretended to hit each other.”

~*~*~

They had some trouble getting back home. Mako suggested they try to get the last boat of the night but when they got near the docks, every other Yang spotted the bruise over Mako’s eye and shot Korra a dirty look. Frustrated, Korra had Naga bring them to a secluded spot and, through Naga’s swimming and Korra’s waterbending, they arrived at the island a half-hour before midnight.

To Korra’s surprise, Bolin was waiting at the island’s docks for them. (“Where the heck were you guys? And what happened to your eye, bro?”) Mako explained a little bit about the fight but not much more as Bolin led the both of them back to the dining hall, where Tenzin and his family had waited up for them. The three older children had a barrage of questions. (“Why were you so late?” “Why is Mako’s eye purple?” “Wasn’t that actor Huang so dreamy?” “Did the show have real badger-moles or just people in costumes?” “Badger-moles! Roar!”) But both Korra and Mako declined to answer any of them. Tenzin tried to question them next. (“Don’t you know we were all worried sick about you? What happened?”) Korra continued to insist she’d tell him later.

Sensing the mood, Pema gently urged, then, when that didn’t work, ordered the kids to bed.

“Thanks,” Korra whispered as Pema left.

“Don’t mention it,” Pema whispered back. “Just tell me later to let me know everything’s okay.”

A female Yin Air Acolyte brought Korra a bowl of water, which Korra put to work on Mako’s eye. As soon as the acolyte was gone, Korra and Mako told Tenzin and Bolin the whole story.

“So,” Korra said. She bent the water back into the bowl, watched as Mako awkwardly opened and closed his healed eye. “It’s okay if we bring Shuchun back here tomorrow, right?”

“Uh, so long as when you get her you bring me,” Bolin said, pointing to himself with the last word. “Honestly, you guys tangle with some weird marble-throwing earthbender and I’m not there? Pft. Lame. I’d show her what’s what.”

Tenzin let out a sigh.

Korra pouted. “That’s never good.”

Her airbending master frowned. “I have no objection to letting the girl stay here, Korra, but I want to know what you’re planning beyond that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Republic City is in a precarious position right now. Do you really plan to help that girl get back her brother?”

“Well … yeah,” Korra said. “I can’t turn away from someone who needs help, right?”

“Yes,” Tenzin said. “And you and Mako did the right thing tonight. But, Korra, as horrible as this girl’s situation is, and as much as I’d wish it were otherwise, there are untold numbers of Yins like her in Republic City.”

“What does that mean?” Bolin asked. Korra thought he sounded offended. “Are you saying she doesn’t matter?”

“No, Bolin. But the police has officers who are experts in busting these … these ‘packs’ and specialists willing to help the Yins they rescue. You’ve all been in trouble for stepping on the police’s toes in the past and now that the city is trying to heal after the Equalist uprising …”

“Wouldn’t they want more help?” Korra asked.

A low growl vibrated in Tenzin’s throat. “Honestly, Korra, do you even listen to the words I say?”

“Yes,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “You told me two weeks ago that the police have been so tied up in trying to rebuild their force that Bumi and General Iroh have been helping them with the United Forces. The Council is short on money and lost a lot of its public buildings in the airstrikes so the board of elections isn’t sure where it’s going to put the polling sites in the race for the new Northern Water Tribe representative. One group is calling for the ousting of every Council member except for you and some other group wants a law to always have at least two non-benders on the Council. And …”

“You’ve made your point!” Tenzin sighed and rubbed the side of his head. “I don’t understand why you kids are so willing to thrust yourselves into danger this way.”

“Sir,” Mako said. “I think I get what you’re saying about there being lots of Yins like her. I know we’re not going to get rid of this problem, but I don’t think it’s wrong to just try to help Shuchun get her brother back. Besides it seems like …” he looked at Bolin, “ … like she really doesn’t have anyone else.”

Bolin took a deep breath, nodded. “We should help her. Mako and I have been through some tough times, but what this girl must have gone through?” he shook his head. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“I …” Tenzin coughed. “I understand this must be a sensitive subject for you boys, but …”

“Tenzin,” Korra interrupted. “She’s about Jinora’s age.”

Her words froze him. Tenzin lowered his gaze. “Yes, I … I heard some of the pack’s victims are that young. I’ve spoken to them at task forces. Some of them were even younger, had barely any idea what happened when their heats began and these … these monsters used that to ...” He shook his head. “All for money, too. Money. I can’t understand it.”

Korra looked over at Mako, saw him staring down at the floor. She put a hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t respond. Korra tried to see if Bolin could give her a clue, but he seemed to be lost in thought.

“The leaders of these … these ‘packs,’” Tenzin emphasized the word with a special contempt, “they’re capable of truly terrible things. You all need to promise me that you’ll be careful, that you’ll keep me informed of what’s happening so that we can get these children the help they need. Do you understand?”

The three of them nodded.

“We promise,” Bolin said.

“Good,” Tenzin stood up from the table. “Now, I think we all could use some sleep.”

~*~*~

Korra walked Mako and Bolin to the men’s dormitories after their talk with Tenzin. Mako insisted she didn’t have to but as a Yang who, after everything, had still just been a date, Korra thought it was appropriate.

“Hey, I keep meaning to ask,” Bolin said as they followed one of the stone paths. “Do you know why they separate us into boys and girls? I mean, if the acolytes don’t want anything, uh, unsavory to happen wouldn’t they separate us by Yin and Yang?”

“So, what about perverts like me, then?” Mako asked. “Would I be sleeping in a tent somewhere?”

Bolin looked at Mako sadly. “Bro, I know you mean to be funny, but …”

Mako sighed. “Forget I said anything.”

Korra looked at Mako sadly, then turned back to Bolin. “Pema explained it to me once. It goes back to the four temples, how they had two for men and two for women. You know how we don’t know if we’re Yin, Yang or in-between until we’re teenagers – well, most people anyway, I knew I was a Yang since I was about five – but almost everyone knows right away if they’re a boy or girl? I think the monks wanted the Air Nomad children to, sort of, learn to see each other as equals before those differences came about, and that was easier if they were with other boys and other girls.”

“Huh,” Bolin said. “I always thought it was because the Air Nomads weren’t that into relationships. You know, that whole ‘no attachment’ thing and stuff.”

“I think the most spiritual monks and the leaders were like that, but not everybody. I don’t think everyone can do that. And I heard some rumor about how Avatar Aang had a Yin and a Yang mother and they stayed together for life, but I don’t know how true that is. Aang never met them, so I can’t find out.” Korra shrugged. “The Air Nomads always had one Yang to every four Yins in their heyday, anyway. If they had one temple for just Yangs I bet the Yangs would drive each other crazy.”

“I guess that’s all moot with Tenzin’s family, anyway,” Mako said.

“Yeah,” Korra said. “He wanted to live like his fathers and mother’s family. Well … like Aang and Katara, I guess.”

Korra and Mako saw Bolin to his room and they parted with assurances that they’d meet early tomorrow to go to the safehouse. Bolin didn’t seem eager to watch them go, closed the sliding door slowly with what Korra hoped wasn’t disappointment. Korra walked with Mako to his room next, gave him a good-bye kiss.

Then, as she turned to go for the night, she quickly turned back.

Korra wasn’t completely sure what had come over her; maybe it was something residual from smelling Shuchun’s heat for so long. But within seconds Korra had Mako by the shirtfront, pulled his face down to meet hers and kissed him. With her mouth still locked on his, she forced him to walk backwards into his room, closing the sliding door behind her as she did so.

Mako breathed her name into her mouth. Korra laughed in response, lifted Mako up by the waist and carried him to his bed. He moaned as she climbed on top of him.

For the next few minutes they were just kissing, and Korra was fine with that. She liked the taste of his mouth, the feel of his tongue. She liked how well it matched with his scent, already so rare and so uniquely his. Korra loosened his scarf and licked his neck.

Mako ran his fingers through her hair, leaned forward and buried his nose in it. “You smell so good,” he said. He took another sniff and sighed. “I never thought I could like a Yang’s scent this much.”

Korra wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but didn’t really care. His hormones were doing their work on her, were urging her to more aggression. She licked along his neck again, punctuated it with a scrape of her teeth. Mako cried out and bucked beneath her. Korra reached down, tried to loosen his pants.

Mako grabbed her wrist. “No. Not tonight.”

His words were like a blast of cold water. She growled and sat up on his waist. “Again?”

Mako frowned. “I thought you were tired. Weren’t you falling asleep sitting up a few hours ago?”

“I’m not too tired for this.”

Mako groaned, tried to sit up. Korra moved off him, sat at the edge of the bed with her arms crossed.

“Look,” he said. He rubbed his eyes. “I’m really sorry, but this isn’t the right time.”

“Well, when is the right time?” Korra asked. “We’ve been together for two months and every time I ask you …”

“I know. I know,” Mako shook his head. “It’s just …”

“Is it me?” Korra put one of her hands on his. “Am I scaring you? Am I doing something you don’t like? Do I need to do something to you first?”

“You’re perfect,” Mako said. He kissed her on the cheek. “Listen, tonight I’m really tired. And I’m not a Yin. I can’t just … just be ready like they are, especially since I’m a guy. Do you know what I mean?”

Korra wasn’t sure she did at first. Then her eyes widened. “Oh! You mean the butt lubrication?”

Mako groaned. “You’re so embarra … yes, that.”

“Well, maybe if I stimulate you a little more …?”

“It’s not happening tonight. I really am sorry, but I know my body and it’s not going to work.”

Korra stared down at the floor. “Okay.” She got up to leave, felt Mako’s hand grab her wrist.

“Look at me. Please,” Mako said. Korra turned back, met Mako’s lips in a kiss as he stood up. “I love you. I want our first time together to be special.”

“If it’s with you, it will be special.”

“But it will be better if we’re not half-dead at the time. Okay? Trust me.”

“But there always seems to be a …” Korra sighed. “Okay, you’re right. Not tonight.” She kissed him again and left.

~*~*~

There was one aspect of being the Avatar that nobody liked to talk about. When the Avatar approached puberty, it was common for them to have dreams of their past (and, on the rare occasion, future) lives and their lovers. Few Avatars wrote about this in detail or shared these experiences with their family and friends, especially present lovers who might feel unnecessarily jealous, but in those brief mentions in their memoirs a few common traits emerged: the dreams were vivid and powerful, making the current Avatar feel not just as if they were watching their old self, but taking on all the emotions and pleasure of their old self. It was also the only experience in the world, other than a particularly powerful piece of romance writing, that could let a Yang know what it was like to be a Yin or a Yin know what it was like to be a Yang.

Due to her spiritual block, Korra missed out on the visions growing up, but the visions were accessible now.

Korra was standing in a hallway lined on both sides by thick wood doors. She couldn’t see her past self yet, but she could feel his hunger. He was a Yang like her, had that familiar overwhelming need to consume another person, to make them beg and whimper beneath them.

Korra had to smile as she felt the Yang’s body grow hot. She was going to love watching this.

Her past self appeared at the end of the hallway. The first thing Korra thought was that he wasn’t very handsome. He looked strong, was maybe slightly larger than Bolin, but his nose was large and crooked, his lips slightly too big. He was dark-skinned with brown hair, but his plain green and yellow hanfu marked him as Earth Kingdom rather than Water Tribe. He was fierce looking, but at the moment he felt weak. So, so weak.

The Avatar sat in front of one of the cells. A Yin scent hung around the door like a cloud, and the Avatar wanted nothing more than to burn it down and take the Yin inside for his own, imagined he could feel the Yin’s flesh in his hands, the Yin’s slick around his hard knot. He could have the Yin if he wanted, could have him right at this moment, but then the Avatar knew he would lose him forever, that to do so would be as good as cutting his throat.

“Anil,” the Avatar pressed his hands against the door, moaned against the wood. “I’ve returned, Anil. I’m here. My love. My master. Can you hear me? Can you feel how I ache for you? I’m dust beneath your feet, Anil. I’m nothing without you. I owe you my soul, my life. Can you feel that Anil?”

Ugh, Korra thought. She’d never said anything that embarrassing to Mako, right? Granted, given the hormones swimming in his head it made a lot of sense that the Avatar (and she) felt so desperate and needy. It was impossible for Korra not to feel swept up in it, not to feel how much he truly loved and desired that Yin. And yet there was something darker in it. The Avatar felt debased in that torment, like he deserved to feel so wretched.

Korra realized exactly whom she was watching, mouthed the name which history attributed to him, the name every Yang with a thirst for battle needed to learn. He was Kyung the Furious: the vicious Avatar who fathered and abandoned multiple children, who nearly killed the Fire Nation Crown Prince, who would have been killed before being allowed to become a fully realized Avatar if not for the intervention of his airbending master, Monk Anil of the Southern Air Temple.

Right now he hardly seemed so dangerous. Every second near the door to Anil’s cell was agony, but Anil’s scent was doing this to him, was so alluring that he didn’t want to be anywhere else. It was right that Anil should entrap him, should turn him into nothing but the mindless beast he knew himself to be.

“My love,” Kyung struck the door with his fist, moaned against it and pressed his ear to the door. To his shock, he felt something hit the door on the other side.

Korra’s breath hitched in her throat. When Kyung whispered Anil’s name, she whispered it with him.

“You punish yourself,” said a voice – weak, breathy, and to Kyung and Korra so beautiful – behind the door. “I’ve … I’ve told you not to, Kyung. It’s been three years. You’ve made amends. You’ve truly become The Avatar.”

“Anil …” Kyung scrambled against the door, clawed against it.

“You don’t need me anymore, my student.”

“I will never stop needing you. I love you. Can you believe that? Can you believe a wretched, unworthy man like me could love you?”

“For the longest time, I couldn’t,” Anil sighed. Kyung heard the door unlock.

Korra gasped.

Kyung threw open the door, grasped the monk in his arms and held him tight to his chest. He felt the wind blow behind him as the monk airbent the door closed, shut the lock. Anil was pale and thin, weighed practically nothing in Kyung’s arms. His beard was close-cropped, growing gray in a way that had to put him at Tenzin’s age or older, but to Kyung and Korra he looked like the most beautiful man in the world.

It didn’t last long, nothing with that much buildup could. Kyung had Anil on the floor within minutes, after only a few thrusts was knotting inside him. Anil was already coming, had an orgasm so powerful that Kyung felt the both of them temporarily lifting off the floor. This was everything Kyung had dreamed it would be, was better than anything he had felt with his previous lovers. This was home.

When Kyung’s orgasm had ended, when the vision started to fade, Korra felt happy, content. She was laying down in the dark on a soft surface that reminded her of being a child and playing in the new-fallen snow. She sighed happily. Maybe it was worth missing out on the real thing for that.

A blue light shone before her. Korra looked up to see Kyung’s spirit form.

The ancient Avatar gave her a cocky smile. “So you’re the new one. Nice to meet you. Expect me.”

“Expect me?” Korra asked. “What do you …?”

He disappeared.

“Well,” Korra let out a breath. “That was unpleasantly ominous.”

“Korra?”

She turned to her right, saw another shining blue form emerge from the darkness, one that had become very familiar to her.

“Aang?” Korra pouted. “Do I have to watch you have sex now? I know I said I had a crush on Katara but I was like, seven or something, and now it would just be really awkward.”

Aang rolled his eyes. “I once saw Roku and Sozin together. Kyung sent that vision to you for his own reasons. But I have something important to show you, something that you need to know about if you continue down this path. Follow me.”

Korra did. The darkness burned away, coalesced into what Korra realized was an office at the city hall. Councilman Sokka sat at the desk, adjusting a radio. Around him stood the rest of the famed Team Avatar: Fire Lord Zuko, Chief Toph Bei Fong, Master Katara with a newborn baby in her arms, and Avatar Aang.

As Korra watched, Aang’s spirit form stood next to her. “What time is this?” she asked him. “What are you doing?”

“It is well over 50 years ago,” Aang said. “I hadn’t given birth to Tenzin yet. Zuko was visiting the city, had heard the rumors at a party of a major announcement coming at a symposium in Ba Sing Se. The reporters there recorded it. Listen.”

Sokka finally found the right frequency on the dial. A deep, elderly voice – one more used to university halls than the radio – mumbled out of it. “Dr. Auckaneck. Graduate of Ba Sing Se University. Consulting physician at Republic City Hospital East. Professor at Republic City University. The good doctor has an announcement that has been the subject of much speculation and rumor. We ask you hold your questions until the end.”

“Thank you,” responded a new voice over the radio – much clearer, much younger. “The last five years have been some of the most productive in scientific history. With open borders and faster communication scientists have been able to share ideas at a rate like never before, to unlock mysteries of the human body once only thought changeable through mystics and benders. We’ve discovered the hormones: chemicals native to our body that stimulate a multitude of process, from how we feel hunger to how we grow to how we mate. It is the last, ladies and gentlemen, that concerns us today.

“I …,” Dr. Auckaneck coughed. “For those who don’t know me, I’m a native to the Northern Water Tribe. My father – my Yin father, anyway – was named Adlartok.” (Korra though she saw Katara flinch at that name and wondered why.) “Due to the customs of our tribe, he was unable to acknowledge me as his own, acknowledge my Yang father Mauja, until years after I was born. I was born male, grew up to be a Yang, received every privilege and opportunity in my culture, but I never forgot this slight.

“I speak to you today, ladies and gentlemen, as a research scientist but also a physician, as a man who has dedicated his life to improving the wellbeing of all humanity. Although the fields of science and technology grow and change, our cultures have been slow to keep pace. With the formation of the United Republic, I fear that it won’t be the more open cultures – the Air Acolytes, the Southern Water Tribes, the Cities of Omashu – that will set us free. It will be the Northern Water Tribes and the Fire Nations’ values of Yang supremacy that will keep us from further progress and enlightenment.

“For so long, cultures have marked the Yin’s heat as a reason to bar her or him from leadership, from employment, from the public stage. No longer. I have isolated the hormone that spurs heat, found a way to inhibit it. My colleagues, with a simple shot administered once a month, we can now cure heats.”

Dr. Auckaneck said something else, but it was drowned out in the loud, angry rumbling from the crowd. In the hall’s office, almost every face was twisted into an expression of shock. Only Zuko and Toph, the Yangs in the group, remained unmoved, listened to the radio with intense concentration.

“I assure you all the process is safe and reversible. A heroic anonymous volunteer offered to use the chemical suppressant for a year, and is currently pregnant with her second child. In the months ahead, I will be available to the press and my colleagues to answer questions, but I urge you all to support this, to help me change our world for the better. Thank you.”

The news announcer came back on, and Sokka shut off the radio. “Wow,” he whispered. His eyes were wide with awe.

“Is he for real, Zuko?” Toph asked.

“Everyone who has met Dr. Auckaneck describes him as an honest man. Exacting and a bit of a control freak, but honest,” Zuko said.

“Right,” Sokka said with a nod. “Wow, I’m … I’m still stunned. If I heard this when I was fourteen, I’d be bouncing off the walls.”

“I don’t know much about chemical healing,” Katara said, stroking Kya’s head as she spoke. “I think we need to be absolutely sure it’s safe.”

“Yeah, of course,” Sokka said. “This … If this was really safe it would help so many people.”

“I’m not sure what the police’s role in this will be,” Toph crossed her arms in front of her. “But if more Yins take this there will probably be less Yang attacks on them. And less Yins will be fired because some jerk factory boss won’t let them miss work for the day. It could do a lot of our job for us.”

“It’s going to change everything,” Zuko smiled, spread out his hands. “We’ll all be equal now.”

The four of them kept speaking, apprehension slowly fading as they discussed more and more what this discovery could mean. Aang stood apart from them, practically shaking with his hands balled into fists. Korra wondered what could be bothering him so much, was ready to ask his spirit form but then …

“Have you all gone crazy?” Aang yelled. “How can any of you think this is a good idea?”

The four of them stared back at him in silence. Korra couldn’t blame them. Even Katara seemed confused as to why he was so mad.

Aang took a deep breath, “Katara, how can you be okay with something that takes away someone’s ability to have a baby after all we went through for me to have Bumi and Kya? Toph, why do you think Yins need to take a shot every month so that Yangs can stop doing what they shouldn’t have been doing anyway?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Twinkletoes!”

“Well, Zuko just said if this happens we’d all be equal now. Does that mean you think of Sokka as inferior? How about me?”

Katara sighed and shook her head. “Aang, you know that’s not what Zuko meant. And I know we worked hard to have our children, but you know that’s my fault and this suppressant would never change that.”

“And what if someone made a shot that could turn you into a Yin, Katara? After all, that’s what the Northern Water Tribe would have wanted.”

“That’s not the same thing!” Zuko protested.

“You’re a Yang!” Aang spat back at him. “What would you know?”

“Okay, fine! I won’t talk!” Zuko turned away from the rest of them, stalked off to the other edge of the room. “I only called this meeting together. I’ve only passed countless reforms to improve the lives of Yins in my country. What would I know about this?”

Katara rolled her eyes. She held Kya up to her shoulder and whispered in the baby’s ear, “Don’t be like your Yang father when you grow up, okay?”

“Well, I’m a Yang too and I’m going to say what I think,” Toph huffed, digging her fists into either side of her waist. “I see so many Yangs who grow up thinking mating is just for fun and Yins are just toys attack or seduce Yins and leave them pregnant and alone. If you’re offering me something that’s going to help stop that, I’m going to take it.”

“You didn’t abandon Lin!” Aang countered.

“Because I’m not a jerk! And I love my daughter. But I can’t stop people from being jerks, Aang, so I have to put their Yins and their children first because they clearly won’t.”

Aang let out a disgusted groan. “Sokka, you … you have to see what I’m saying, right? Are you really okay with everything that doctor said? Do you really think heats are something that needs to be cured?”

Sokka had been leaning against the desk, arms crossed and uncharacteristically quiet, when the fight started. Even now he seemed to Korra to be unwilling to get into it.

“Aang, here’s the thing,” Sokka said. “What this guy is offering, it sounds awfully similar to what the Air Nomads were able to do. It’ll help us control how we react in heat. It’s just a shot instead of meditating.”

“So why don’t we just use meditating? It still works.”

“It didn’t work for me!” Sokka yelled, waved his arms in frustration. “And I tried. I really did. I did everything you said and went through every heat aching and miserable until I was with Suki.”

Toph sighed, muttered under her breath, “You didn’t have to.”

Zuko groaned over on his end of the room. “Let it go, already. How long are we going to still act like kids?”

“All right,” Katara took Zuko by the arm and led him out of the room. “You’re not helping anyone. Come help me with the baby.” She shut the door behind them.

Sokka shook his head as he watched them go, then turned back to Aang. “Buddy, think about it for a minute. Meditating makes you feel better during heat but it doesn’t mean you can go out and work. What if we had these shots during the war? Wouldn’t it have been much easier if we could keep moving every day instead of having to stop and rest so Katara could tie us up in a tree or whatever so Zuko wouldn’t catch us?”

“Considering he became one of my bondmates, it worked out pretty well,” Aang said.

“Aang,” Sokka put his hands on his shoulders. “I really think you’re letting your struggle to have kids with affect you too much.”

“It’s not about that. This is not like meditation,” Aang wrenched himself out of Sokka’s grasp. “The Air Nomads made spaces for Yins, made a society that understood what we needed. Everyone else puts the Yins’ needs last and then calls them weak for it. I want to give my children a world that’ll serve their needs, not one that’ll cut them down for not meeting its messed-up rules.”

Sokka groaned, slapped his forehead. “We are trying to meet their needs, Aang. That’s what this is all about. Why can’t you see that?”

Aang didn’t say anything back. Korra watched Toph shake her head and leave the room as the vision faded.

“Wow. So what changed your mind, Aang?” Korra looked around. It was dark again. She was alone. “Aang?”

A loud knocking sound spiked through Korra’s head, jolted her eyes open. She was lying in her bed, was looking at her room in the early morning light.

“Korra!” Bolin knocked on the door again. “Korra, it’s almost eight. Are you ready?”

Oh. Right. Korra forced herself to sit up, to get on her feet. “I’ll be right there,” she said.

End Chapter One.


	2. Chapter 2

~*~*~

After a round of failed coaxing, Korra decided to leave Naga behind. The previous late night had worn out the polar bear-dog, who greeted Korra with a happy lick but couldn’t be induced to follow her to the docks. Oh well, Korra thought as she boarded the small boat where Mako and Bolin waited for her. Bringing both of the boys along was probably already overkill for picking up an 11-year-old girl.

The day was sunny, but winter still had its icy hold on Republic City, and the wind chilled as Korra stepped onto the gangplank. Mako was talking to the Air Acolyte set to steer the ship while Bolin leaned over the starboard side, Pabu riding his shoulder as he looking up at the sky.

“What’s he doing?” Korra asked as she settled next to Bolin.

“Huh?” Bolin asked, not seeing her at first. “Oh, he had a question about the return times. No biggie.”

Korra nodded, looked up around the ship. Some Air Acolytes were pulling up the gangplank. “Hey, so, Mako told me you use suppressants, right?”

Bolin quickly whirled his head around to look at her, shocking Pabu, who jumped to the ground. “Um … why do you want to know that?” he asked, speaking so quickly it seemed like the sentence was one long word.

Korra’s cheeks reddened. “Sorry, loaded question. Aang came to me in this dream last night. He showed me this argument he had with the rest of the first Team Avatar about approving suppressants. Do you know what changed his mind?”

The expression Bolin was giving her was strange, his lips pressed tight together and his eyes wide. “Changed his mind? About suppressants?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, that is a, um … very interesting question and …” Bolin looked around the ship, saw Mako approaching the two of them. He grabbed his older brother’s arm and pulled him to his side. “… and Mako can answer it!”

“Huh?” Mako asked. “Answer what? What are you talking about?”

“She’s asking about suppressants,” Bolin whispered in Mako’s ear but was loud enough that Korra heard every word.

Mako glared at the both of them. “Excuse me?”

“Not like that!” Korra exclaimed, exasperated. “I wanted to know what made Aang change his mind about letting Yins have suppressants.”

Mako was giving Korra the same strange expression now. He looked at Bolin, who shrugged. This was getting so weird.

“Korra, um …” Mako coughed. Bolin nodded and waved his hands at Mako, encouraging him to keep going. “Um, Aang was never okay with suppressants.”

Korra’s eyes widened. “What, really?”

“Yeah,” Bolin chimed in. “We’re … kind of surprised you didn’t know. I mean, it happened long before either of us were born but it was a really big deal. Every history book in the library about the birth of the United Republic at least mentions it.”

“But why did it get approved when he was so against it?” Korra asked.

“He got overruled,” Mako said. “The whole council at the time was in favor of it, even the Air Acolyte.”

“Do … Do you hate suppressants?” Bolin asked.

Korra blinked. This whole conversation was stunning to her. Avatars varied a lot in opinions and personality, so that she didn’t share one of Aang’s beliefs wasn’t a surprise. Yet she’d never heard of a Yin being against suppressants. Or anyone. Throughout her lifetime they were just something that existed. To be against it would be like being against roads.

“I never thought about it,” she finally said. “I mean, it’s not really a concern of Yangs, is it?”

Mako rolled his eyes.

“I don’t mean like that!” Korra frowned, trying to think of the right thing to say. “I just mean Yins should be free to … um, make their own choices about how to handle their heats, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Bolin said, although the relief in his voice was clear.

Maybe I should be more careful about how I speak about this, Korra thought. She crossed her arms and leaned against the side of the ship, grateful when Pabu’s chattering broke the silence.

~*~*~

Korra planned to stay outside the safehouse, sure that the caretakers wouldn’t want a Yang in the building, but after five minutes of awkward small talk with the guard (a different big beefy Yang guy from last night, but a big beefy Yang guy nevertheless) and another ten minutes of turning her thumb into a lighter and blowing it out again and again, Bolin popped his head out the door and asked for her help.

The obstacle was an older Yin woman with gray streaks in her brown hair and a pale sourpuss face threatening to drop into jowls. She sat at a desk in the safehouse’s lobby (which, like in the paperbacks, was sparse with uncomfortable-looking seats and nothing but a waving owl-cat on the desk for decoration but, unlike in the paperbacks, looked pretty much clean), concentrated on writing something down to such a degree that Korra suspected she was less interested in what she was doing than in making a point.

“We’re here to pick up Shuchun,” Korra said, making her voice as stern as possible without being rude.

The woman sniffed the air loudly. “No Yangs,” she barked.

“I know,” Korra said. “I’m not planning to go into anybody’s room. I just want to pick up a girl who Mako and I checked in about fifteen hours ago …”

“No Yangs,” the woman repeated, still not looking up.

Korra slammed on the desk, which finally made the woman’s eyes meet hers. “What is your deal? Bolin told me he explained this to you. We’re just coming to pick her up. There’s a prostitution triad after her. I’m the Avatar. I need to protect her.”

The Yin woman glared back at Korra, kept her eyes locked on her as she reached for her teacup. As she took a loud slurp, she made sure the red circle on the front was visible.

Korra snarled at her. The woman pressed a buzzer on her desk and yelled, “Security!”

The Yang man from outside ran in. “Is there a problem?”

“Escort this Yang off the premises,” the woman said, turning back to her papers.

“This is ridiculous!” Mako exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Bolin chimed in, stepping forward. “We’re with the Avatar, okay? We’re just trying to help a girl who’s being pursued by traffickers.”

“When did you drop her off?” the guard asked.

“Sometime between seven and eight last night,” Mako said. “It’s already nearing noon. She should be done.”

The Yang raised an eyebrow, looked at the Yin woman. “We are near capacity, Chun.”

The Yin woman looked up at him, her nostrils flared. “I’ve seen a lot of Yins come through those doors over the years,” she said. “There’s something wrong with that girl. I want her looked at by a doctor.”

“What’s wrong?” the Yang asked.

The side of Chun’s mouth twitched. “Something,” she said, although lamely. “I have instincts about these things!”

“Well, our grant’s instinct is that we have as many beds as possible open at all times. The more Yins go through those doors, the more money we get. So if that girl’s heat is over out she goes.”

Korra could feel Bolin flinch next to her. Chun snarled again, but got up from her desk. The guard nodded at them. “You can wait outside. I’ll make sure the girl gets to you.”

The three of them did so, each of them silent as they walked out the door, Korra holding it for Mako and Mako holding it for Bolin.

“Well, that stunk,” Korra said as the door slammed shut.

“Yeah, really,” Bolin said. “It’s like, hmm, who do I side with? The terrorist sympathizer or the bureaucrat who sees poor Yins as yuan signs?”

“Forget about it,” Mako said. “What matters is we get Shuchun back.”

Korra sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

Bolin didn’t seem so happy either. As if sensing his master’s distress, Pabu climbed off Bolin’s shoulder into his hands and Bolin took the opportunity to pet him. A moment later Shuchun opened the door. The little girl at first stared at the fire ferret, transfixed, then saw Korra and Mako. She rested a fist against her palm and bowed to both of them.

“Thank you, Avatar,” Shuchun said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Have you found Jiayi?”

“Not yet.” Korra got on her knees in front of Shuchun, and the boys followed suit and crowded around them. “We’re going to take you back to the island where we live so we can talk to you and help you, okay?”

Shuchun looked at all of them, then looked back at Pabu. The fire ferret cocked his head. Shuchun raised her hand, her fingers trembling, wanting to pet the animal but unsure if she should.

“She’s probably been through a lot,” Mako said. He scooped her up, and Korra and Bolin stood up along with him. Bolin urged Pabu into the little girl’s arms, pet her hair as she scratched Pabu’s white neck. Korra couldn’t help but find the image sweet, although when she thought that Shuchun must be at least eleven, it all seemed kind of weird. Shuchun looked and acted like someone much younger.

“We should head to the next cross street,” Bolin said as they left the steps of the safehouse, Mako still carrying Shuchun.

“Why?” Korra asked. “What’s at the next –?”

Her question was strangled in her throat and her knees buckled as she felt a stripe of pain lash across her back, a pain that brought back her earliest sparring lessons with Master Katara as a child. Korra looked around her to see Mako and Bolin on the ground, Mako shielding Shuchun with his body. She then turned to face their assailant.

Korra’s mouth dropped open. The woman from yesterday was behind them, bending a water whip back into her skein. She gave Korra a nasty smirk, and Korra was so shocked that she didn’t know what to do.

“How is that possible?” Mako asked. He and Bolin were already up. “She was earthbending yesterday.”

“Really?” Bolin looked at her. “You can bend two elements?”

“Mmm, that’s right,” the woman purred, smiled in a way that showed all her teeth. She rested her painted fingernails on her hips and stuck out her chest. “The spirits came to me in a vision. They say the Avatar’s time is at an end. I, Tukiko, am the new Avatar, the true Avatar!”

Korra felt her heartbeat increase despite herself. This didn’t make any sense, but on the other hand in the last year she’d seen bloodbenders control people when it wasn’t the full moon, saw a waterbender take away people’s bending. The boys were looking at Korra – Bolin scared, Mako more skeptical – for an explanation, but she didn’t have one.

The girl snorted, then chuckled. She covered her mouth with both hands as she burst into laughter, then doubled over and slapped her knee a couple of times.

“I …” she laughed again. “I’m so sorry. The looks on your faces were too much. How stupid are you?” She sighed and stood up. “My name is Tukiyo. I’m a twin. My sister Tukiko is the earthbender, and she’s right behind you.”

Korra and Bolin immediately ducked, but Mako made the mistake of looking back and was hit again. When they realized what had happened, Korra and Bolin surrounded Mako and Shuchun, their backs up against either side of Mako and their stances locked in the direction of the twins – Korra facing off with Tukiyo the waterbender, Bolin with Tukiko the earthbender.

“You got a good jump on us,” Mako said. Korra could feel the air warm in back of her as he used a free hand to create a flame, “but you’re still two against three.”

“I heard other pro-bending teams bested you with those odds,” Tukiyo said.

“You forget we don’t have to play by pro-bending rules out here,” Korra said. “And also that I really am the Avatar.”

Tukiko cackled. “We don’t have to beat you, Avatar. We just have to make your bondmate drop the girl.”

They twins attacked in tandem, throwing volleys of water and rock at them. Their technique was sloppy. Korra was able to defuse most of the water blasts coming at her and dodge others, and Bolin was doing more than fine keeping up his end of the fight, but the twins had them in a tight spot and were taking every advantage of it.

Knowing she was taking a risk but hoping to break the standstill, Korra stepped forward, leaving Mako and Shuchun less protected. She tried to wrench Tukiyo’s water away from her, gather it in a wave behind her and shoot it back, but Tukiyo figured out what was going on and the wave broke apart between them. Korra made a bolt for the waterbending twin, her hands aflame.

Tukiyo struggled to gather enough water for an attack, but the bubble she gathered fell apart as Korra grappled her about the waist. Korra was set to pin the girl when she felt the ground rumble beneath her feet.

Behind Korra, Bolin had been knocked to the ground, not unconscious but overwhelmed. Korra could feel the air crackle as Mako sent a bolt of lightning flying toward Tukiko. The earthbending twin leaped away at the last moment, hit Mako with a large slab of the street in return.

Bolin called out Mako’s name as he and Shuchun hit the ground. Korra lunged for Tukiko and felt her boots stick to the street, iced. Korra growled as Tukiyo ran past her. She and her sister were making a break for Shuchun. The little girl was on the ground, trying to squirm on her butt back and away from them, Pabu gripped against her chest and tears running down her cheeks. Korra inhaled deeply and thrust her arms forward as she breathed out, airbending the twins back as far as she could push them.

It wasn’t enough to completely incapacitate the twins, but it gave the rest of them time to regroup. Mako and Bolin were back on their feet, stood in front of Shuchun with their fists raised and ready to strike. Korra ran to their side.

“That all you’ve got?” Korra asked, her voice breathier than she would have liked.

One of the twins – Tukiyo, Korra thought – looked at the other one as if for guidance. Tukiko opened her skein, let Tukiyo take out a fresh batch of water, then opened the other pouch on her sister’s hip, taking out a handful of marbles.

Korra took a deep breath, glanced at the boys and saw them tense. As they readied to strike, the twins rushed for them. 

It was then that the car barreled between the two groups of fighters, its tires screeching as it performed a 360 turn in the middle of the road. One gearshift later, the car roared backwards into the twins, sent them running. Korra couldn’t see the driver’s face, but she recognized the waves of black hair flowing from beneath the driver’s helmet as she tossed smoke canisters spewing green gas in their direction. The twins were just a bit too fast, however, and disappeared when the smoke had dissipated.

“Um, where’d she come from?” Mako asked.

“I called ahead for a ride,” Bolin said, a wide smile on his face. When neither Korra or Mako said anything in return, he raised an eyebrow. “What? She’s part of Team Avatar too, isn’t she?”

That was true, but Korra also hadn’t said a word to Asami in the two months since she and Mako came back to the White Lotus’ compound in the South Pole with their hands locked together. Despite how happy Korra was, she’d found it hard to look Asami in the eye the rest of that day.

It seemed like neither of them could think of anything to say as Asami got out of the car, pulling her helmet off her head as she walked toward them.

“Hey,” Asami said when she was close enough that Korra could smell her flowery perfume, “I know I’m not quite up to speed with what’s going on but I’m going to guess they were bad news, right?”

“Yeah,” Bolin said, a wide smile on his face. “Real bad news. We’re real glad to see you, though, right guys?”

Mako stared at the ground. Korra coughed, extended her hand and forced a smile. “Good to have you back, Asami.”

Asami stared at Korra’s hand, a sour look on her face. She took it in a tight grasp then wrapped her free arm around Korra’s back. This close, Korra could smell Asami’s in-between scent, the enticing Yin and territorial Yang clawing out beneath the flowers that tried to overpower them.

“Come on, Korra,” Asami said, her voice almost on the edge of anger. “You know me well enough that we don’t need to shake hands.” Asami then looked at Mako, who was still staring at the ground. “Nice to see you too,” she said the sarcasm thick in her voice.

Mako glared at Asami as she returned to the car. Korra could feel her ears and neck burning as she watched Asami go. The Yang part of her felt insulted, wanted to fight Asami over what had just happened, but some higher function reminded her it was probably just the guilt.

Bolin sighed sadly, and Korra felt even worse. He really had done a smart thing. Bolin took Shuchun by the hand and led her to the car. Korra briefly rubbed Mako’s shoulder before they both followed, sliding into the back seat on either side of Shuchun.

“We’ll fill you in at the restaurant, okay Asami?” Bolin said.

“Restaurant?” Mako asked.

“Yeah,” Bolin said, turning back to look at his brother. “Shuchun’s probably starving, remember?”

Shuchun’s stomach took the opportunity to loudly growl in agreement, scaring Pabu enough that he ran into the front seat with Bolin. Shuchun slumped down, embarrassed.

“Oh, right,” Korra said. She hadn’t even thought about it.

“I’m paying, so don’t worry about the price,” Asami said as she started the engine. “We’re just going to that Narook’s place you like, though. I’m kind of having money trouble lately.”

“Sure,” Korra said. “Thank you.”

Asami drove them to the restaurant in silence, and the rest of them followed suit. Korra leaned back against the car’s seats, thinking about how frustrated she was about this situation. Then she saw Shuchun, and realized how selfish she was being.

Korra hadn’t really gotten a good chance to look at the girl since this whole thing began. Her hair and clothes still looked disheveled, and without the heat Korra realized how bad she smelled, sweaty and dirty. Shuchun was unnaturally still, stared ahead as if looking through everything. Korra reached out a hand and stroked the girl’s hair. Shuchun shot the same wide-eyed stare back at her.

“Have you ever had Water Tribe noodles before?” Korra asked.

“Once. A long time ago. I’ll eat it. I’ll eat whatever you ask me to eat. I …” Shuchun suddenly sniffled. “I’m very sorry.”

Korra blinked. “Sorry for what, Shuchun.”

“Tukiko and Tukiyo are after you because of me,” she said, “because you tried to help me. Kilaun will be after you, too.”

“Kilaun? Who’s that? The Triad leader? Does he have your brother?”

Shuchun nodded, new tears flowing from her eyes now. “Kilaun said I belong to him. Kilaun says he’ll hurt anyone who takes something away from him.”

“He’s trying to scare you,” Mako said. He put his hand on Shuchun’s shoulder. “Everyone here is going to help keep you safe, just like we did back there.”

“Yeah.” Korra patted Shuchun’s back. “Plus, I’m the Avatar. Nobody messes with me.”

“But I heard someone hurt you, once,” Shuchun said.

Korra stared back at Shuchun. She tried to tuck away the memory of her body being frozen in place, of being bent back and a white mask glaring down at her.

“That won’t happen again,” Korra said, her voice firm. “I don’t care how big and tough this Kilaun guy is, he can’t hurt me like that.”

Shuchun smiled, rested her head back on the seat and closed her eyes. “I’ve never been in a car before,” she muttered, then lightly snored.

Korra caught Mako’s glance. He gave her a reassuring smile she wasn’t sure she deserved. She shifted in her seat and heard something crinkle beneath her boot. Korra moved her foot and saw a newspaper on the floor of the car. The name in the headline made her start and she picked it up.

Korra was still looking at the newspaper as Asami called out, “We’re here!”

As Bolin and Mako opened the doors of the car, Korra tapped Asami on the shoulder.

“Can I borrow this for a while?” Korra asked, holding up the newspaper.

“That?” Asami asked. “Korra, you can keep it if you want. I meant to throw that out weeks ago.”

“Thanks,” she said. Korra followed the others into the restaurant, unable to read further into the story but still entranced by the headline:

“Suppresants inventor Dr. Auckaneck, 79, sacked for Equalist sympathies.”

End Part Two.


	3. Chapter 3

~*~*~

The tension between Mako and Asami (and Asami and herself, Korra supposed) hadn’t exactly dissipated when the four of them – five if you counted Pabu napping on Bolin’s shoulder – sat around a table with a groggy and quiet Shuchun. They had all decided to let Shuchun eat before asking her any questions, and ended up staring at the little girl as she slowly sipped on spoonfuls of fish broth. Korra wondered if everyone else felt as uncomfortable as she did. There was a stillness to Shuchun that seemed so unnatural. Korra assumed it was because she’d been through a lot, but she wasn’t sure how to deal with it without accidentally running the little Yin over.

“Don’t you like this? It’s so good!” Bolin spooned a huge knot of noodles into his mouth, chewed with his mouth open in a wide smile on his face, letting half of the noodles splash back in the bowl.

Mako rolled his eyes and told Bolin to knock it off, but Shuchun smiled and laughed softly. Bolin encouraged her to try to eat the same way, so Shuchun dutifully began shoving more and more noodles into her mouth.

“Not too much! You don’t want to choke,” Asami warned.

Bolin responded with a loud slurp, which made the rest of them laugh.

The situation eased after that. Mako congratulated Bolin and they all finished their meals. Pabu had woken up by this time, made his way over to Shuchun’s lap. As Shuchun pet the fire ferret, Asami took a brush out of a bag she’d brought inside with her, had Shuchun’s hair piled in two braided buns on the back of her head by the time a waitress came by and cleared their empty bowls away.

“So lovely!” Narook exclaimed as he approached their table, a small bowl in his hands. He laid it in front of Shuchun. “Akutaq for the little princess. On the house.”

Korra gasped. “Wow, Shuchun. You’re so lucky! Thank you, Narook.”

“What is it?” Mako asked after Narook had bowed and walked away.

“Akutaq,” Korra said. “It’s a Water Tribe dessert made of animal fat and oil and berries. It’s sort of like ice cream.”

“Oh yeah,” Bolin said. “I’d seen that on the menu but didn’t know what it was. I’d love to try that.”

Shuchun’s lips curled into a frown. She pushed the bowl toward Bolin. “You can have it.”

“What?” Bolin pushed it back. “No, that’s for you. Narook gave it to you.”

Shuchun stared at the bowl for a minute, then burst into tears.

“Hey!” Mako exclaimed. “Why are you crying?”

Pabu let out distressed little squeals. Korra wrapped her arms around Shuchun and Asami reached over and rubbed her back.

“What’s wrong?” Bolin asked. “You should be happy to get the special Water Tribe ice cream. Why are you sad?”

Shuchun sniffled, rubbed her eyes and looked around at the others. “Everyone is so nice to me. Feeding me. Making me look pretty. Giving me sweets. Jiayi doesn’t have this. Kilaun doesn’t want me to have this. Kilaun is going to hurt everyone for giving me this.”

“Oh honey,” Asami kissed the top of her head. “Don’t be scared.”

“Asami’s right,” Mako said, and Korra wondered if Asami heard the discomfort in his voice. “We’re going to protect you.”

“Yeah!” Bolin said. “Besides, even if he does come after us, he’ll do that whether or not you eat akutaq!”

Mako groaned, rubbed his left temple. “Bolin …”

Korra gave Shuchun another quick squeeze. “Why don’t you start telling us about you? That way we can start finding out a way to really help Jiayi.”

Shuchun rubbed her eyes. “Okay. But can I give you all a little bit of the akutaq for helping me?”

Korra nodded, and the others followed suit. With delicate precision, Shuchun scooped out small spoonfuls of the creamy dessert, held them out to the mouths of those around the table in turn: Korra, Mako, Bolin (“This IS really good!”) and Asami. She even let Pabu lick up a little from her hands. Then she started telling her story.

~*~*~

“I don’t have a mom, at least not one I can remember,” Shuchun began. “Jiayi – he’s four years older than me – he says he had another dad, but he wasn’t around when Papa got pregnant with me. So maybe I have a different mommy or daddy than Jiayi. I don’t know. Papa always took care of us on his own.

“He was a good Papa. We weren’t rich. I never had a doll or any toys. But when Papa was alive we always ate something, even if it was just rice or buns, and we always went to school. Papa kept us safe.

“We had to stop going to school when the Equalists took over the city, though. The last time we went they came took all our teachers who could bend away. One of my classmates firebended at them and they took him away too. They let everyone who couldn’t bend go home, told us if we wanted things to get better we should tell them which of our neighbors could bend because they were wicked and bad. They said benders were the reason why most of us didn’t have any money and were hungry all the time, because they took all the good jobs and made all the rules.

“We came home and told this to Papa. His face was so angry when he listened to us.

“‘Your grandfather was an earthbender,’ he said. ‘When he was a young man, Fire Nation soldiers captured him and held him on a metal ship. Avatar Aang and his future bondmate Master Katara saved him. The current council of benders may be cruel to us nonbenders, but the Avatar saved our family. The Avatar will always help us.’

“On the day the Equalists attacked the city, Papa heard that we’d be safe in the Dragon Flats borough. He put some food in bags that he strapped to our backs, and we ran away from home. I remember holding onto his hand. I kept looking up in the sky whenever I heard one of those planes fly above us. I didn’t know what they could do.

“I saw the bomb first. I remember screaming as it hit the building near us. Then I don’t remember much of anything.”

Shuchun stared down at the table for a moment. She sniffled, her lower lip trembled. Asami reached out and rubbed her shoulder.

“You’re really brave,” Mako said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. Bolin was staring at him sadly.

Korra nodded. “Keep going, okay?”

Shuchun took a deep breath, rubbed her eyes. “Everything hurt when I woke up. Jiayi had taken me back to the school. We were hiding in the basement with a bunch of other kids. He told me what happened to Papa, and that we were on our own.

“The worst part of it all was when we came home after the battle was over. Everything in our house was fine. No bombs had hit it or the houses around it. Nobody had even looted it. Jiayi and I stayed there for a couple of days. I don’t remember much of what we did. I felt so sad, and Jiayi said he had to do a lot of stuff that I didn’t understand. One day he got sick and he locked himself in his room and wouldn’t talk to me.

“Then the twins came. They broke into our house. Tukiko hit us with those marble rocks while Tukiyo froze our hands and feet together. Then they put bags over our heads and made us walk for what seemed like forever. If we tried to run they would poke these ice knifes in our backs.

“When they took the bags off our heads, we were in a dark room front of Kilaun. I don’t remember exactly what he said. It didn’t make sense to me, but he said Papa owed him a lot of money, like 10,000 yuans. Or 100,000 yuans. I don’t know. I remember Kilaun saying both things. Jiayi told him that Papa didn’t have anything. So Kilaun said Jiayi had to work to pay him back. Jiayi asked that one of the twins take me away, and then he and Kilaun talked for a very, very long time.

“I don’t know how long we stayed in Kilaun’s place. We were usually in the basement. We slept on cots with about twenty other kids and young teenagers. The twins would come down once a few times every day to give us food. For the first couple of days I begged Jiayi to take us home, but he said they wouldn’t let us go until Jiayi paid off the debt. When I asked him how he was doing that, he wouldn’t tell me. He said to be quiet and listen to anything the twins or Kilaun said.

“I wasn’t always with him. Sometimes he’d be gone for whole days. The other kids would, too. One of them, a 13-year-old boy named Enlai, asked me why I didn’t have to work like the rest of them. More of them started asking me that, started complaining to the twins about it. Soon the other kids stopped talking to me, and I missed Jiayi even more when he was away.

“Yesterday, Tukiyo took Jiayi away, and, about a half hour later, Tukiko came back for me. I remember some of the other kids snickering behind me as she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me up the stairs.

“‘It’s time for you to earn your keep,’ she said.

“She took me to a pretty room. It wasn’t anything like the cots in the basement. It had a big, real bed with a beautiful green blanket and wall scrolls and a pot of flowers. There was also a window behind a pretty green curtain. It was dark out. I realized I hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. She held out my arm, gave me a shot, and then left me there.

“I was lying on the bed, happy to feel the soft blanket, when Tukiko came back in with a large man with light skin, a long black beard and green eyes. Tukiko told him I was from the Earth Kingdom, like he was.+

“He reached out and ran his fingers through my hair. I realized … I realized I could smell him, and I didn’t know why but it made me so sick.

“Tukiko didn’t notice. She slapped his hand away from me, said something about half payment up front. He asked if they could discuss this outside and they left me alone again.

“Everything fell into place then. I knew I had to get out no matter what. I kept trying to push the window open but it wouldn’t budge. It was fused shut. I grabbed the flower pot and threw it against the window, smashing it.

“It was loud enough that they heard it. I heard the door open, Tukiko calling my name as I jumped out the window. I even felt one of her marbles whizzing above my head but when I fell on the ground I just got up and ran away as fast as I could.

“I didn’t know where I was going. I made as many turns as I could, hoping that she couldn’t guess where I went. After about an hour I started to feel very sick, but I kept running. By the time I got to the Golden Lion Turtle Theater, I just wanted to slip inside and hide somewhere. But I heard someone say the Avatar was here and …” Shuchun looked at Mako, then at Korra. “Well, you all know what happened after that.”

Korra rubbed Shuchun’s back. She still had so many questions, but knew this wasn’t the right time to ask. Mostly Korra was amazed. Shuchun had been through so much, yet she hadn’t been touched, had managed to save herself. Korra felt happy for the girl, but she remembered that Jiayi and those other kids hadn’t been so lucky.

“Thank you,” Korra finally said. “I think that’s going to help us a lot.”

The others made small noises of agreement.

“Shuchun, do you think you could retrace where you went yesterday?” Asami asked.

The girl shook her head.

“How long do you think you were running?” Mako asked. “About two hours? Three?”

“I think it was two,” Shuchun said. “Time got fuzzy after I got sick.”

Mako nodded. “We’ll have to start from the theater and move out in all directions when we’re looking for this place, then.”

“What does your brother look like, by the way?” Bolin asked.

“He has brown hair, but light skin and green eyes like me,” Shuchun said. “He’s only a little bit taller than me too.”

Asami raised her eyebrow. “Really? Sounds weird for a 15-year-old boy.”

Shuchun blinked at Asami, confused. “Jiayi’s not fifteen. He’s twelve.”

“But you said Jiayi’s four years older than you,” Korra said.

“Yeah,” Shuchun nodded. “I’m eight.”

~*~*~

While Korra loved all her new friends in the city, there was nothing quite like coming back to the island and being greeted by the older airbender children. The three of them yelled her name as they rushed to her, hugged her legs as she stepped onto the dock. She bent down to hug them, briefly catching sight of Pema with Rohan in tow approaching behind them.

“Hey, kids,” Korra rubbed Ikki’s back and Meelo’s head as she stood back up. “I brought a friend.” She stepped to the side, pointed to Shuchun as the girl walked down the gangplank.

A wide smile split Meelo’s face. “Asami’s here!” he exclaimed, propelling himself over Shuchun’s head and into the arms of the older girl, who was still on the ship. Asami groaned and staggered back, muttering a “Hi Meelo” as he squeezed her.

“No, no,” Korra said. She took Shuchun by the hand and brought her closer to the girls. Mako, Bolin and Asami – who was still uncomfortably carrying Meelo – descended the gangplank. Pabu ran between their legs and off onto the island, perhaps in search of Naga.

“Jinora. Ikki. This is Shuchun,” Korra said. “She’s going to be staying with us for a little while.”

Jinora smiled pleasantly. “Good to meet you.”

Shuchun clasped her hands in front of her and bowed deeply in return.

“Shuchun, huh?” Ikki stared the girl up and down, her face about an inch away. “Why are you here? How do you know Korra? What’s your favorite color? Are you going to be staying in my room? You don’t snore, do you?”

Shuchun stared at Ikki with a look approaching horror. “Um … I … um …”

Pema, who now caught up to her older children, laughed softly. “Don’t let Ikki overwhelm you, Shuchun. I’m Pema. I’ll show you to your room for now. Tenzin and I will talk to you more at dinner. Meelo, leave Asami alone for a bit and follow me. Tenzin’s waiting for you in the dining room, okay Korra?”

Korra nodded. An unexpected melancholy came over her as she watched Shuchun go. Pema led the little girl by the hand. Ikki and Meelo walked on either side of their mother, both of them studying Shuchun. Jinora trailed behind, her head turned back and her eyes locked on Korra’s in a silent question as they went.

“Okay, so,” Bolin cleared his throat. “I wasn’t going to say it while Shuchun was here. I was trying not to say it at all but, hey, someone has to address the camelephant in the room … She’s freakin’ eight?”

“Yeah, I know,” Korra said. “I –”

“Who presents at eight, huh?” Bolin continued, waving his arms around. “Nobody presents at eight. I didn’t present at eight. I mean, sometimes weird things happen and stuff happens a little earlier or a little later. Mako didn’t know he was an in-between until he was fifteen!”

“Speak a little louder,” Mako muttered under his breath, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “Don’t think they heard you on the mainland.”

“But eight? That’s crazy! Crazy!”

“There was a lot of weird stuff in her story,” Asami said. She had been giving Mako a look that seemed uncomfortably judgmental to Korra (although Korra had been surprised by what Bolin had said too, so …). “Everyone noticed that she never called it going into heat, right? She called it getting sick.”

“Yeah, she didn’t seem to know much about the facts of life,” Korra said. “I guess she didn’t have anywhere to learn it, though. Especially if her older brother was protecting her.”

Bolin nodded. “I think we learned from books at the library, right Mako?”

Mako sighed. “In front of my bondmate and my ex … can we talk about Shuchun, please?”

He was being really weird, Korra thought. “She mentioned a shot. What do you think that is? It couldn’t be suppressant if she went into heat, right?”

“There are some contraceptive shots,” Bolin rubbed his index finger along the bottom of his chin, deep in thought. “They’re supposed to stop you from getting pregnant without stopping your heat. Like they keep the embryo from sticking to the womb or something. I don’t know. I don’t know the science words.”

“What about her father?” Asami asked. “Why do you think he owed all that money to this Kilaun guy?”

“Honestly, I’m betting that’s a lie,” Mako answered, although he was staring at some invisible dirt he was trying to pick out beneath his nails and not at her. “Triad leaders make a sport of levying hidden interest rates when it suits them, and that’s supposing that Shuchun’s father even owed him money. He doesn’t want cash. He wants a trap. It’s stupid to think otherwise.”

Asami glared at him.

Korra coughed loudly. “Anyway, do we have a plan ready?”

“Like I said before,” Mako said, “We’ll start patrolling and questioning people about an hour’s distance on foot in all directions from the theater and go from there.”

“That’s stupid!” Asami said. “That’ll take forever.”

Mako’s nostrils flared. “You have a better plan, then?”

“Yeah,” she said, her hands on her hips. “We go to some place scummy and ask where to buy young prostitutes. We’ll search out every brothel around the theater until we find Jiayi, get him out of there, and then turn the addresses of the brothels over to the police’s vice squad when we’re done.”

“Oooh! I like that plan!” Bolin exclaimed. “Can we wear disguises? I’ll be a bus driver! Korra can be a fireman. We’ll get her a mustache.”

“We’re not doing that plan,” Mako snapped. “Word travels fast among criminals. If we’re sniffing around every brothel, the pack is going to know, especially since they already know what we look like.”

“And it’s going to be less noticeable if we’re wearing out the soles of our shoes around the city looking for … what?” Asami asked. “A building with a broken window on the first floor? That’ll be easy in a city that was bombed two months ago.”

Mako growled at her. Asami quickly returned it with a snarl and bared teeth.

“Okay,” Korra said, drawing out the word as she stepped between them, her palms up and her mouth twisted into a smile. “Maybe we should all talk to Tenzin and see what he thinks, huh?” At least he could be expected to act like your typical level-headed in-between, Korra thought.

Mako huffed, but turned on his heel and stormed off toward the main temple. Asami followed, a sour frown on her painted lips.

“Eesh,” Bolin said when they were out of earshot. “Aren’t Yangs the ones who’re supposed to fight whenever they’re together for too long?”

Korra could only sigh in response. The grin on Bolin’s face melted.

“I probably shouldn’t have invited her, huh?” he asked

“We might have lost Shuchun if she hadn’t showed up when she did,” Korra scratched the back of her neck. “I should talk to her, I guess. But what should I say? I mean, should I apologize for something? Like … I don’t know. ‘Sorry I’m dating your ex-bondmate that I loved all along. I really tried not to be with him when I found out you were cool and your dad turned out to be a terrorist, but you guys didn’t work out anyway. So no hard feelings, right?’ I mean … that won’t make it better, will it?”

“Probably not,” Bolin admitted.

Korra snorted. “Emotions are stupid.”

“Yeah, they’re a drag,” Bolin said, his voice quiet. “Maybe we can all make it work, though. At the end of the day, we’re a great team, right?”

“Right,” Korra said, but she wondered if that would be enough.

~*~*~

After listening to what they learned, Tenzin ended up having the solution to the standstill between Mako and Asami. Through his time on the sex trafficking task forces, Tenzin knew that Lotus Way, located about five miles south of the theater, was a common site for police raids.

“I wouldn’t ask anyone directly for information on Kilaun, but it could be a place to do some detective work,” he said. “If you see any officers, don’t get in their way. If you’re fortunate enough to find his brothel, don’t barge in bending or do anything to draw attention to yourselves. If anything, try to recover Jiayi and leave. Then, call the police or Lin and they’ll help the rest of the children. Shuchun’s story should be enough to put out a warrant on Kilaun, and if Jiayi cooperates we can lock him and those twins away for a very long time.”

“Seems like a reasonable plan to me,” Korra said with a smile.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of Tenzin’s family entered the dining room, the airbender kids practically blowing each other over as they rushed inside. Shuchun crept behind them. She hesitated at the table until Pema led her to a seat next to Ikki, who pouted and crossed her arms at her mother as Pema walked away and sat next to Tenzin.

There was sort of a weird vibe with Asami back and Shuchun added into the mix, Korra thought as she closed her eyes and listened to Tenzin’s before-dinner prayer. Yet as the meal progressed and people started talking to each other – and, in particular, started talking about stuff not related to Shuchun’s sad situation – the mood seemed to ease. Tenzin and Pema asked Asami a bunch of questions about how things were going at Future Industries (the responses were strained but optimistic), while Meelo kept trying to steal away her attention. Jinora caught Bolin’s ear about the book Pema had told her not to read at the table. Ikki still had a sour puss on her face, but when Shuchun walked over to Pema and asked if she could hold baby Rohan for a little while, Ikki seemed a lot happier and started energetically bothering Jinora and Bolin.

Korra had been so preoccupied with thinking about the newcomers that it took her a while to realize how quiet Mako was being. When she turned to ask him about when they should leave tonight, Korra saw he’d barely touched his food, was leaning with his crossed arms on the table and staring into the bowl of rice in front of him.

“Are you okay?” she whispered to him.

“What?” Mako rubbed his eyes with the index finger and thumb of one of his hands. “Yeah, I’m fine. Must have been thinking too hard.”

Korra frowned. “You know, what Bolin was talking about before … you can tell me about it, if you want. I’m not going to judge you. You know that right?”

Mako gave Korra a curt nod but still didn’t look at her. Korra’s heart sank. She moved closer, nuzzled his neck and kissed it.

Mako laughed. “Are you trying to scent mark me?”

“Maybe.” Korra grinned. “You don’t like it?”

Mako shook his head but had a smile on his face. “Yangs,” he chuckled as he moved in to kiss her again. As Korra kissed back, she thought she saw Asami staring at them, but when she looked again Asami was staring at the ground.

~*~*~

What surprised Korra the most about Lotus Way as she watched it from the back of Asami’s car was how relatively normal it looked. She’d expected some of it – the bars, the massage parlors, the houses with a heavily made-up Yin woman standing in front – but they were sandwiched in between small grocers and flower stands. Korra wondered if she would have even seen them if she hadn’t been looking for them.

“What were you expecting?” Mako asked her when she’d said something. “People knotting each other in the street?”

“I don’t know. Something … crazier, I guess,” Korra exhaled and folded her elbows over the side of the car. Actually, this made the task feel even more overwhelming. Since everything was so scattered, where would they even begin to look?

Asami pulled into a side street and parked the car. “The bar at the intersection of Third looks popular. Should we start there?”

“A good a place to start as any I guess,” Korra said as she opened the car door.

She adjusted the trench coat and hat she was wearing – the same that she wore the night of the Equalist rally. Mako was similarly dressed, had even given Korra his scarf again. Asami’s outfit … well, it was interesting to Korra. She’d washed off most of her makeup, tied up her long wavy hair in a tight bun in the back of her neck, covered the rest under a bowler hat, kept on her driving pants but exchanged the Future Industries jacket for a white shirt and a man’s vest, and put on a brown coat – her father’s – that didn’t quite fit her. There was another one of Mr. Sato’s jackets – a black and red one – that Bolin wore along with a cap like Mako’s (he’d wanted to wear the mustache but Mako told him “no”).

“You sure you don’t want to stay in the car, bro?” Mako asked Bolin as he closed the front seat door behind him.

“The whole point of wearing Dad’s clothes is to disguise our scents,” Asami said, aggressively hoisting the jacket further up her shoulders. “You should be wearing perfume, at least.”

“I’m fine,” he spat. “They still let in-betweens into these places and we’re not the only in-betweens in the city. You don’t always need to hide who you are.”

Asami rolled her eyes. “I like perfume.”

“I’ll be okay,” Bolin said. “If they throw me out I’ll come back here but eight ears are better than six or … something.”

As it turned out, the bouncer at the door didn’t try to smell them, although he warned that any aggressive bending would get them booted and demanded a cover charge of twenty yuans each for them, which Asami paid. The group fanned out after they got in, promising to meet back at the entrance in an hour.

If the red-light district itself seemed relatively normal, the place they’d entered was definitely not. There was a long bar to buy drinks, a few mah jong tables, a beautiful Yin man in sparkly underwear singing a surprisingly mournful Earth Kingdom song at a badly-lit stage, and some chairs and tables where multiple couples – many of them casually dressed Yang men sitting with a heavily made up and scantily clad Yin woman or man – sat, drank or felt up each other. But off the main room there were many doors leading to smaller rooms, and more than once she saw a Yang lead a Yin into one of them.

Korra hadn’t quite realized what the side effects of being in such a place would be for her. She’d made her way near the stage, had been eavesdropping on a conversation between two Yang women that had seemed to be about buying a mate for the night when she realized the rise in body temperature and prickling along her skin she’d been feeling and ignoring were the beginning stages of rut. Korra pulled Mako’s scarf closer around her face, trying to get rid of the smell of whatever was doing this to her, but the scarf smelled like him, made it worse. She staggered toward the bar, trying to ignore her clitoris pulsing as it struggled to stiffen and grow.

“Water,” Korra panted to the bartender. “I need water.”

“Twenty yuan,” he barked, not looking up from glass he was cleaning.

“What? That’s ridiculous!”

The bartender walked away. Korra snarled, saw some bottles sitting on some shaved ice behind the bar and reached out her hand, tried to form it into water and bend it her way. Instead, Korra felt a strong hand grasp her wrist.

“It’s all right,” said a deep, oily voice next to her. Korra looked to see the owner of the hand – a Yang man in a dark blue tailored suit about the size and age of her father. The man had very light brown skin; long, dark brown hair and a beard tied into two beaded braids. He laid two fifty-yuan bills on the table. “Lychee wine for the both us, Mr. Wen.”

Korra groaned as the bartender walked away with the bills. “Thanks, sir, but I’m not really much for alcohol. If you could make it juice …”

“Don’t worry,” he said. He flashed a smile at her, and Korra could smell his breath. He had one of the strongest Yang scents she’d ever smelled. In her current state it made her antsy, territorial. “The alcohol dampens the rut. Not so much, but it’ll keep you lasting longer if you do get lucky.”

“Great,” Korra said without enthusiasm as the bartender placed a glass in front of her. She took a sip of it, not incredibly satisfied. It seemed like a bitter version of a drink she already loved. “What’s going on? Is somebody in heat?”

“Oh no,” the man chuckled. “This place is for the working-class Yang. Only the cheapest, most desperate Yin would sell their heat night at a price any of them could afford. You’re feeling the collective hormones of the Yins. It takes some time to get used to.”

That time could come sooner rather than later, Korra thought. Pulling Mako into one of those empty rooms and knotting him until he was screaming her name seemed like a distractingly awesome idea right now. Korra gulped down a mouthful of wine and, despite herself, looked over the dark room. She saw Mako sitting and talking to a man at the mah jong table. Bolin was there too, although on the opposite side of the table. Korra thought she could hear his disappointed groan as the woman sitting next to him wrapped her arms around the pile of yuans in the center.

“So everyone here’s looking for someone to buy?” Korra asked.

“Not necessarily. Some of these cowards come here to salivate over Yins they’ll never get. The ones who’ve bought are in the rooms upstairs. Others just want a place to act out some … special desires. Perhaps you? You’re a pervert chaser, aren’t you?” 

Korra’s eyes widened, then she glared at him. The man continued smiling.

“Your eyes went straight to the tall one in the cap,” he said, his hand with the wineglass pointing in Mako’s direction. “I caught the scent of him a few minutes ago. Not my interest. I prefer them slick and ready for me, but perhaps there’s an appeal for the young Yang in silencing an aggressive young man on your knot, am I wrong?”

Korra took a loud slurp of wine. “You’re not very nice, Mister.”

“Come, come,” the man picked up his own wineglass, sniffed the liquor and sloshed it around in the glass before quaffing it. “Let’s not get territorial with each other. I was young once, too. You could learn a lot from a Yang like me. What’s your name?”

Korra choked on the last bit of wine. She hadn’t come up with an alias. She struggled to think of a name. “Asami!”

Ugh, good one, Korra.

The man’s eyebrow raised. “Asami, eh? And do you have a last name?”

“Um …” Korra bit her lip. “Pippinpaddle-Oppsokopolis?”

The man snickered. “Well, I suppose it’s a time-honored tradition for a Yang woman to enter a den of iniquity under a false name. Even the best and most powerful of the female gender can still only resort to underhanded hiding, it seems.”

Korra decided she’d had all she could stand of this guy. She wiped the back of her hand against her mouth and muttered a “See ya.” He’d mentioned something about Yangs buying Yins upstairs, so she headed there, feeling his creepy gaze follow her as she went.

The rut was over. Her clitoris had retracted and while she could smell the Yin and Yang scents around her they weren’t pinging her mating urges. Despite that, she’d drunk the alcohol fast and it left a hazy and sick feeling in its wake.

The upstairs hallway led to several rooms, some open to reveal red-lit, decorated lounges. She could hear the sounds of moaning behind the closed doors. Not much info to be gleaned from that, Korra figured. She was about to go downstairs when she suddenly felt dizzy. What was going on? She’d never had alcohol before. Was she really that much of a lightweight? Korra ducked into one of the empty rooms, sat on the plush upholstered bench surrounding the room with her head in her hands.

“No! No, please. Help me. Stop! Someone help me!”

Korra jumped to her feet. The screams were coming from the opposite room.

“There’s no escape for you, firebender,” said a deep voice in response. “You need to be cleansed of your impurity.”

Korra froze. The words might have been familiar, but Korra had heard the voice all too often in her dreams to realize it wasn’t Amon. Nevertheless, her heart was pounding in her chest even as she tried to assure herself of what was really happening. Korra stepped up on the bench, put her ear against the wall. She then caught sight of a hole in the wall and peered through it.

The woman who had screamed – a young, pale Yin girl with long black hair – was tied up so she was bent backwards on her knees, the end of her braided ponytail tied to her feet. Behind the woman stood a Yang wearing cheap facsimile of Amon’s suit – the brown leather replaced by unhemmed cloth, the wooden mask with paper-mache. The fake Amon cupped the woman’s tied breasts, slowly stroking them, before suddenly grabbing the back of her neck with one hand and sticking the thumb of the other on the woman’s forehead. The woman screamed again, tears running down her cheeks, liquid gushing down her legs.

Korra felt her stomach lurch. She let the door slam behind her as she rushed back into the hallway, looked around and saw the door at the end of the hall had a sign for a bathroom. Korra made a beeline for it, just making it to one of the stalls as she felt the alcohol burn her mouth. She dropped to her knees and vomited twice.

Her stomach unloaded, Korra made her way to the sink. She cupped her hands and let them fill with water. She drank the first two handfuls, rubbed the third on her face. Korra heard a stall door open behind her. She looked in the mirror in front of her and saw Asami stepping out of it.

“Korra?” Asami rushed to her side, put her hand on Korra’s back. “I thought that might have been you. What happened?”

“Nothing,” Korra exhaled, rubbed her face with some more water and turned off the tap. “I just … I think there’s some things I don’t want to know about people. I actually feel a lot better now that I’ve thrown up. Have you been in here this whole time?”

Asami smiled and nodded. “I figured this would be a gossip hotspot. I’ve been ducking in and out of the stalls. This is the second time I’ve re-applied this mascara.” She batted her eyes in demonstration.

Korra smirked. Moments like that made Korra think this “team” thing with Asami really could go smoothly. “Heard anything good? Someone said a lot of deals are conducted up here.”

“Not really. I’ve heard enough to know there is trafficking but not where it’s going. I’ve heard some references to people heading off the strip to find Yins, but nothing definitive. No addresses or anything like that. I think we should head –”

Korra never heard the rest of Asami’s sentence. She saw the door open and two women walk in, their faces turned to each other. When she recognized the blue dresses, the piled black hair with the loops, Korra grabbed the back of Asami’s neck and pushed her face down to meet hers.

“I’m going to pick you up. Lock your legs around my waist,” Korra whispered.

“What?” Asami exclaimed.

Korra pressed her lips to Asami’s and picked her up. Asami let out a shocked, strangled, squeal but after a moment shut up and wrapped her arms and her legs around Korra. Korra carried Asami into one of the stalls, kicked the door closed behind her.

“So, how much did you get tonight?” Korra heard one of the twins ask the other. Both Korra and Asami crowded near the space between the door and the pane to listen to the twins.

“About 200 yuan in future appointments with our little cubs,” said the other twin. “Some earthbender wanted a crack at me but the price was too low.”

“He offered nine yuan instead of ten, then?”

“I said me, not you, Tukiyo.”

Tukiyo cackled. “I got about 150 in appointments. Next time I’ll get twice yours. And a Yang with 12 inches and a big house to marry me.”

“Reach for the stars, little sister,” Tukiko said. “Only an ugly toad would marry you.”

“A very rich ugly toad.”

“Kilaun’s waiting. Go pee and let’s get out of here.”

Korra and Asami looked at each other as Tukiyo went about her business.

“I can’t believe this,” Korra whispered. The road to rescuing Jiayi was practically mapped out in front of them if they did this correctly.

Asami nodded. “I think we should follow them.”

“Right now? But what about the boys?”

“I don’t think we should let this opportunity pass us by. We’ll try to come back for them as soon as we can.”

Korra nodded grimly. “Sorry about what I did,” she said, after a moment.

Asami stared back at her, and Korra wondered if Asami was searching for some kind of deeper meaning in what she said. Then she nodded. “Me too. You smell like vomit and my ex.”

Korra frowned. She heard the rushing of water and the main bathroom door opening and closing.

They moved out. Korra and Asami followed the girls down a flight of stairs in the back of the building. When they reached the street, Korra grabbed onto Asami’s waist, bent the air around them so they floated to the top of the nearest building. They followed the twins from that vantage point, climbing over and leaping to the next roof as needed. After a particularly steep climb or high jump Korra would look back, but Asami was keeping up with her just fine.

The building the twins led them to was about six or seven blocks south and one block east of Lotus Way. It looked like a regular home from the exterior, albeit a bit of a dilapidated one. No lights shone from any of the windows. One of the twins pulled a key out of her bag of rocks, opened the door.

“Weird,” Asami said as she watched the twins enter the house. “I don’t see any broken windows.”

“Maybe they fixed it already.” Korra said.

Asami shrugged. They watched the house for a few minutes more. A light came on in one of the second floors.

A great idea suddenly hit Korra. She cracked her knuckles and smiled at Asami. “You want to go in?”

Asami’s eyes widened. “Right now?”

“Why not? The lights are on upstairs. We know the kids are in the basement. It shouldn’t be too hard to get Jiayi in and out. Have you got your glove?”

Asami reached into her pocket and pulled it out.

“So …?” Korra asked.

Asami put it on, let it crackle. “Let’s do this.”

While Korra considered the front door a good idea for a last resort, they tried to see if there was a way directly into the basement first. After sneaking around the house, they found a door in the backyard locked by a heavy chain. Korra used her firebending to cut the chain and flung it open.

Korra kept her tread light on the wooden steps, and Asami followed suit. The steps led to a door. Korra grasped it and found it unlocked, turned it slowly so as not to make a noise.

When they were in, Asami gingerly guided the door closed behind her. “Can we get some light in here?”

Korra created a flame in the palm of her left hand, held it up and let its light flicker around the room. Emptiness and brick walls surrounded them.

“Where are the cots?” Korra asked. “The children?”

The sound of splashing water echoed behind them. Korra whirled around to see the doorknob freeze.

“It’s a trap!” Asami yelled.

The lights in the room suddenly turned on, temporarily blinding the two of them. When Korra opened her eyes, she saw a burly man walking toward them, applauding. He still wore his dark blue suit, but now it was fashioned with a large wolf’s head for a hat, an elaborate necklace of bones and beads in the style of a Water Tribe chieftan, and a walking stick tucked under his arm decorated with feathers and beads.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked. He leaned on the stick, that awful smile on his face. “But you took so much effort to find me, Miss Asami Pippinpaddle-Oppsokopolis.”

Korra gritted her teeth. She felt so angry, so stupid. “I’m guessing you’re Kilaun,” she snarled.

“Indeed.” Kilaun’s false smile melted away, transformed into a sneer of bared teeth and dark, fiery eyes. “And you have something that belongs to me, Avatar Korra.”

End Part Three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 5/25/2013: Realized I fucked up Shuchun's older brother's name. The revised spelling, "Jiayi," is the correct one now.


	4. Chapter 4

~*~*~

They were losing. Of course, they planned it that way, but the female Yang to the left of Mako at the mah jong table – light brown hair, dark skin, showing signs of age but still pretty – was either skilled or lucky enough at the game that Mako wasn’t sure if they would have won for trying. The woman swept the first two rounds, and then managed to pull out a jade dragon hand to clinch the third. Mako wondered why she was even here and not in some kind of casino or tournament until he caught her eyeing Bolin, leaning in for a sniff as he reached across the table to help mix up the tiles for the next round.

The sight brought a snarl to Mako’s lips, but he stayed silent. He didn’t like this place, these people. He hated their leers and their ego games. The man next to him – a slender light skinned Yang with black hair braided in a ponytail down to his back – had gone into the game crowing about how good he was and got increasingly growly and obnoxious as he started losing. But he talked a lot, so Mako stayed at his side.

The bar had actually once belonged to Red Monsoons, the thin man explained, but had exchanged hands in the days following the anti-bender revolution. He wasn’t sure who owned the place now, but he was glad it was open again. (“After all that rotten trouble earlier this year, the scent of so many wet Yins in one place makes a body feel alive.”) He was married to a Yin woman, had a male Yin bondmate as well, but he still liked to come here.

“Do you mate with anyone here?” Mako asked, trying to sound casual as he discarded another tile. He looked across the room, caught a glimpse of Korra walking up the stairs in the back.

“If I get lucky,” the man snickered.

Mako heard Bolin shift in his seat and cough loudly. He turned to check on him. Bolin’s cheeks were oddly red but he seemed to have recovered and discarded a tile of his own.

“So the Red Monsoons didn’t have any Yins for sale?” Mako asked.

“Not them,” the man said. “Not officially, anyway. Why do you think the drinks are so expensive here? The bar has got arrangements with some triads that specialize in that sort of thing, sure, but it ain’t lining their pockets.”

“And who runs those triads?”

“Pon!” yelled the Yang woman.

The Yang man growled at her. “How should I know?” he barked at Mako. “I don’t need to pay for a Yin. On the other hand, you give me a Yin in heat – real heat – that’s another story. I heard rumors that the price is going to drop on that pretty soon. Give me that and one of those shots so they don’t whelp a mewling little brat in nine months and I’ll show some interest.”

“Mah jong!” The Yang woman unveiled her winning pattern, jumped up from her seat and laughed with joy. “Mmm, I love winning. I love money. Let’s play again!”

The four of them mixed up the tiles and built the four walls surrounding the center. The Yang woman rolled the dice. Mako was about to suggest to Bolin that they split after this round when he felt a tap on his shoulder. An employee of the bar – heavily perfumed young man in a white shirt and black vest – whispered in his ear.

“She says she has your scarf upstairs. Second door to the left.”

“What?” Mako asked but the young man was already walking away. He sighed. What was Korra doing? He supposed she did have a tendency to be ridiculous, though. “I’m out,” he said to the Yangs. Bolin looked up at him, his face resembling some sort of confused polar bear puppy, then followed him across the room.

“Where are we going?” Bolin asked when they reached the stairwell.

“Got a weird message that’s probably from Korra.” Mako stopped mid-way up the stairs, looked at Bolin. “Are you okay?”

Bolin tilted his head. “I guess? I don’t know. This place is kind of messed up, but it’s not like we expected anything different, right?”

“That woman kept trying to smell you,” Mako grumbled.

“She did?”

“Yeah! I swear, Bo, you can be so oblivious sometimes.”

“Huh,” Bolin shrugged. “I didn’t notice because the guy you were talking to kept running his foot up my leg.”

“What?” Mako couldn’t keep himself from yelling. “How could you let him do that?”

“Hey, what did you want me to do?” Bolin threw up his hands. “Hit him and make a scene?”

“No, I …” Mako groaned and rubbed his forehead. “This is why I wanted you to stay in a car.”

Bolin frowned. “You know, I saw more than one Yang take a sniff off of you, too. What did you think I was going to do? Be all, ‘Oh yes take me now, you big creep, you smell so sexy’? I’ve been dealing with this stuff since I was thirteen, Mako.”

“Forget it,” Mako sighed. “I’m sorry. Let’s just go meet Korra.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Bolin put his hand on Mako’s shoulder. “I know this stuff is bringing up a lot of feelings for you. It is for me too. We should talk about it.”

“Right now we need to act, not talk.” Mako pulled away, started walking up the stairs. “Come on.”

As Mako walked away, he didn’t hear Bolin’s tread behind him, but when he looked back his younger brother was catching up. They passed two of the bar’s employees in the hallway before they came to the door and opened it.

The twins were lounging at the far end of the room, their legs crossed and their arms back against the red upholstered couches. A large bucket of ice sat on the table in front of them.

“Hey good lookings,” one of them purred while the other blew them a kiss.

A lot happened at once. Mako felt himself shoved from behind. A loud clang reverberated throughout the room as one of them – Tukiko, Mako would realize later – kicked the bucket of ice in their direction. Tukiyo was on her feet in a split second, bent the ice to water and again to ice around him and Bolin, pinning their arms to their torsos and knocking them down.

“Thanks, boys.” One of the twins tossed a small wad of bills over his and Bolin’s heads to one of the bar employees, who bowed and closed the door, locking it behind him.

Mako struggled in the grip of the ice. His clothes were thick enough to protect him from the ice’s sting, but that was a small mercy. With his elbows locked to his waist he couldn’t firebend out without potentially hurting himself. Bolin was even worse off – the building seemed more stone than wood. One of the twins – he’d messed them up again in the fray – grabbed them by their back collars and turned them on their butts so they were facing the table. The other leaned against it, her legs and arms crossed, and watched them like a triumphant cat-owl.

“Where’s Korra?” Mako growled to them.

“Hmm, not sure,” the twin nearer to him shrugged. “Last we saw, we had her trapped in some dark basement with our leader.”

Bolin gasped. “What?”

“That’s right!” said the twin at the table. “Oh, and someone else was with her … do you remember who, sister dear?”

“Oh! Oh!” the other twin jumped up and down, clapped her hands. “Was it that rich bimbo who was dumb enough to park the car she tried to run us over with right on the street where we could see it?”

“I think so!”

“Don’t call her a bimbo,” Mako said. “Asami’s smarter than the two of you put together!”

The twin at the table snorted as her sister joined her, leaned next to her on her left in a similar pose. “What do you base that on, little man? We just captured all four of you.”

“Or have you been out of the gutter so long that you look at two pretty girls who sell their bodies and assume they’re stupid?” asked the other.

Mako seethed quietly, feeling more chastened than he liked. He tried to think of when he saw Korra go up the stairs. It hadn’t been that long, had it? A half-hour at most. Wherever Korra was, she couldn’t have gone far. And while he couldn’t firebend out, he could try to raise his temperature and melt the ice …

“Whu-What do you want with us?” Bolin asked. “Because no matter what, you’re not getting Shuchun. She’s not even with us right now. So … hah! Joke’s on you.”

The twin on the right sighed. “And it was you who helped capture the genius industrialist who bombed this city? Ridiculous.”

Mako’s eyes darted to the both of them. “How do you know so much about us now? You didn’t even recognize Korra when we met one of you at the safehouse that first time.”

“True,” the twin on the left said. She stretched as she spoke, pushing out her breasts. “It’s Kilaun who follows the news, especially during the revolution.”

Her sister nodded. “We were kind of laying low for that time. Obvious reasons. But that’s a long story.” She undid the collar of her dress, reached beneath it to pull out a folded piece of paper. “The point is he kept track of the newsletters the Equalists put out. He remembered this.”

The twin unfolded the paper. It was a tabloid-sized page with pictures of the four of them. Korra on the day she announced she’d arrived in the city. A professional photograph of Asami. Bolin and Pabu from before the championship match. Mako’s own picture, from Tarrlok’s ball for Korra, had Asami in it too.

(Mako remembered when Asami found the picture in The Republic City Post’s society pages the next day. She’d clipped it out and given him a copy. Two weeks ago he’d stumbled upon the clipping when going through some of his stuff. He burned it.)

Bolin bumped his shoulder against Mako’s. “That picture of me is pretty good, huh?” he whispered.

Mako stared at him for a moment in disbelief. “So you know what we look like and know we fight with the Avatar?” he said to the twins. “Didn’t you know that already?”

“It came with information about all of you,” said the twin on the left. “And we have more connections than you might imagine, Mako. Bolin. You’re known among both the underworld and the former Equalists. Not to mention fans of that idiotic sport you play.”

“What are you talking about?” Bolin asked. “Pro-bending’s amazing!”

“And playing that ‘idiotic sport’ is better than living like you do,” Mako spat.

The twin on the right laughed. “Truly, we would have loved to have had the opportunity to exhaust our bodies and talents for others and let someone else take most of the winnings, but alas, our firebending triplet tragically drowned in the Yue Bay when we were six.”

“Woah,” Bolin’s mouth dropped open, eyes widened. “You really had a firebending …”

“No, Bolin,” Mako said with a sigh. “Is that really the rationale you’re going with?” he asked the twins.

“At least when we mate with someone the other person has to pay every time. You only got paid if you won,” the twin on the right said.

“And how well did that work out?” the one on the left asked. “Your team was the second best in the sport, maybe best if the Wolfbats weren’t allowed to cheat. And by all accounts, you only have living on the charity of your bondmates to show for it.”

“A bondmate you’re not even doing the courtesy of letting her mate you, by your smell,” the one on the right said with a snicker. “Having some trouble in paradise?”

Mako growled, “That’s none of your business.”

“Yeah, leave him alone,” Bolin said. “And say what you want about pro-bending, it’s better than hurting a bunch of kids like you do!”

“We paid our dues,” the twin on the left said darkly. Throughout the conversation, the twins had ricocheted between expressions of leering flirtation and sneering triumph, but her face was now like a stone, almost chilled Mako despite himself. “If they’re strong, they can take it up with us one day.”

The chill inside Mako melted away. The ice was still strong around him, but he could feel it give a bit, especially with this new anger coursing through him. “You’re repulsive,” he hissed.

The twin on the left glared back at him. “Big words from two brothers who ran around with the Triple Threats.”

Bolin frowned. “We didn’t do anything like this, Tukiko!”

Both of the twins stared at him in shock, and Mako was no less surprised

“How’d you know who was who?” he asked. “I lost track of who did the waterbending after they iced us.”

“That one’s the waterbender,” he said, pointing with his foot to the one on the right. “Tukiyo. She’s the funny one.”

The twin on the right gasped and clasped her hands together with an “Aww.” Her sister slapped her on the back of her head.

“I’ll give you kudos for that, Bolin,” Tukiko said. (Tukiyo was still rubbing the back of her head with a pout on her face.) “I underestimated you. But you underestimated us. You talk to us as if we were ordinary prostitutes. Part of an ordinary pack. We’re not.”

“And what makes you so special?” Mako asked.

Tukiyo smiled. She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. “You ever heard of the buttermoths? Before the Hundred Years War, most of them were white, but a few had brown wings. When the Fire Nation started building ships of coal, when the United Republic started building factories, the pollution blackened the cities, made it easier for the brown buttermoths to hide from predators. Now there are very few white buttermoths left.”

“Umm …” Bolin whispered in Mako’s ear. “What are they talking about?”

Mako shrugged.

“What we’re saying, is that a few months ago, a madman in a mask came and wiped the playing field,” Tukiko said. “We’re the brown buttermoths. We’re what’s left.”

“And you, good lookings,” Tukiyo purred. “You just declared war on the underworld.”

~*~*~

“So … Asami Pippinpaddle-Oppsokopolis? Really?”

Korra pouted as she returned Asami’s disbelieving glance. “I was kind of preoccupied at the time.” She glared at Kilaun. “So, you knew who I was all along?”

Kilaun chuckled. “I’d have to be a complete idiot not to recognize the face that’s been plastered all over the newspapers just because she was hiding behind a scarf and a hat. But in fairness to any morons who might have been fooled by your pedestrian disguises I must admit to a certain … fascination with you, Avatar, even before you stole my cub away. The savior of Republic City, our great Yang messiah and her merry little band of a Yin and two perverts that she never touches. It’s almost sweet how noble and repressed you are, my confused little virgin.”

Korra sputtered. She became newly aware of his smell in her nose, how furious it made her. Her hands lit on fire as she started to lunge for Kilaun. Asami reached her hand across Korra’s chest, holding her back.

“Stop trying to bait us!” Asami said. “Why did you lure us down here? If you knew we were looking for you, you could have packed up all your victims and started running somewhere. If you want to fight, we’ll fight, but we don’t have time for your mind games.”

“Heh. It’s adorable when perverts try to be Yangs. They’re like a poodle-pony trying to stand on its hind legs,” Kilaun buffed his nails against the lapel of his suit, stretched his hand out to look at his nails, then flexed his hand into a fist so hard Korra could hear the bones crack. “I’m here to offer you young ladies a deal. You can keep my cub. I’ll even throw in her brother, but you have to pay off their debts. About 500,000 yuans should make this square, yes? Surely you have some lying around, Miss Sato.”

“I’ll give you fifty yuans for that drink I threw up,” Korra pointed at Kilaun, “and you can shove the rest of your offer down your throat.”

Asami nodded. “That’s right. You’ll fund exploiting children, exploiting anyone with my money over my dead body.”

Kilaun said nothing, but his dark brown eyes roamed over Asami’s body. Korra saw they stopped at her chi blocking glove.

“Is that so?” he asked. “It’s so amusing, you know, the lies people tell themselves about their own morality. That masked pervert and that sissy Yang of a councilman who thought themselves this city’s saviors were bad enough, but Hiroshi Sato having the gall to play the victim was too much. Poor little boy descended from the first Fire Nation colonists makes good? Descended from the first oppressors, becomes richer than most of the benders in this city, and is the first to cry about how persecuted he is just because an idiot thief sets his wife on fire.”

“I don’t have anything to do with my father,” Asami said. Korra had been in a cloud of pent-up rage, but the anger in Asami’s voice made Korra take notice. 

“No?” Kilaun planted his stick in front of him and leaned heavily against it. His shoulders hunched up around his wolf’s hood in a way that made him look even more like a beast. “You use his weapons. You drive his cars. You waste the money he made off the backs of his workers to help the benders he hated and you call me the exploiter.”

Korra didn’t just hear Asami’s growl, she felt it on the back of her neck. The angry glances she’d given Mako earlier in the day were nothing compared to the rage on her face now. “Asami?” she asked.

“But I don’t begrudge you for it, my dear Miss Sato,” Kilaun purred. “I’m sure you’re making up for all that guilt by being very useful to the Avatar. Without you, there wouldn’t be anyone to turn on a machine, would there?”

Asami let out a roar and launched herself at Kilaun, her chi-blocking glove sparking.

It all happened in less than 30 seconds. Kilaun dodged the attack, throwing his staff away. Asami whirled around, her hand outstretched to shock him. He crouched low, punched her in the stomach. Asami hugged her stomach where he’d hit her, cried out, but by that point he had her right arm in his grip by the elbow.

“Rich little pervert girl playing with her daddy’s toys,” Kilaun taunted. He tightened his grip and a sickening crunch followed. Asami screamed.

“Asami!” Korra yelled. She moved her arms in circles, send as much air as she could toward Kilaun. It blew Asami, who was still clutching her right arm and moaning, back from him but Kilaun stayed put, actually started stepping toward her amidst the hurricane Korra was creating.

“How …” Korra whispered. Even Amon hadn’t been able to withstand her or Tenzin’s airbending this way. Well, she was still new to that.

She tried fire this time, sent flaming punches and kicks in his direction. Kilaun dodged them all, came close enough that Korra could punch him. She took the opportunity, aiming for his stomach.

It was like hitting a wall of metal. Korra roared and tried again, launching a flaming fist at his jaw. He caught her wrist in his hand, then the other, held them up above her head. She pulled back with all her might. His hands were like vice grips. She barely budged.

A sick feeling grew in Korra’s stomach. She was one of the strongest people she knew. How could this be happening?

“Only two people have ever beaten me in a fight, Avatar,” Kilaun growled. “The first was a Yin witch of a firebender who terrorized the children in the brothel where my mother whelped me. I bashed her head in with a rock when I was eighteen. The second was Amon. Look where I am now.”

Korra felt herself being lifted off the ground. She tried to brace for the impact as she was thrown, but waves of shock and pain rippled through her as she hit the brick wall.

“Korra!”

Asami’s voice. Korra shook as she got to her feet. Kilaun was walking toward her: lumbering and slow, but confident, very triumphant. Korra ran over to Asami, stepped behind her as if to shadow her, then dropped into a horse stance. She raised her arms. Kilaun might be strong, she thought, but this foundation was brick, and even he couldn’t fight a house falling down on him.

“I wouldn’t try that, Avatar,” Kilaun said. “Not unless you want a lifetime of regret on your conscience.”

Kilaun clapped his hands. Korra heard the sound of doors opening. From at least five different points in the ceiling – Korra now saw they were trapdoors she hadn’t noticed before – several Yin children dropped into the basement. They were young, but not that young. The smallest had to be around eleven and the tallest about fifteen. Their skin colors, hair, clothes all varied wildly. Some wore chi-blocking gloves that seemed too big for them, but most ignited balls of flame in their hands, carried earthbending disks, had water skeins strapped to their waists.

And they all had their weapons, their elements, focused on her and Asami. Korra looked into their eyes. They were all frowning, but there was something distant in them, something far away.

“Prepare to attack, my cubs,” Kilaun said.

“This is crazy!” Korra looked at the children nearest to her. “Kids, please! Don’t do this! We’re here to help you. We’re here to get you away from this life.”

Quiet, high-pitched growls answered her. The firebenders’ flames flickered angrily.

“Enemy,” one of the children hissed.

“Evil!” said another.

“She wants to destroy our pack!”

Asami looked up at Korra. She was still sitting beneath her, holding her wounded arm. Her green eyes were glassy with fear.

“Did you really think my cubs would welcome you as their savior?” Kilaun sneered. He walked among the children, stroked their hair and cheeks as they continued to stare blankly ahead. “Life is hard out in the big city for a young child. Many of these children are orphans of gang fights, orphans of that pervert’s war. I saved them from harm, from starvation. I gave them a place to sleep. What do you have to offer them?”

“You’re a monster,” Asami moaned.

“And a coward!” Korra chimed in. “You act like a big tough Yang and you hide behind children?”

“The Hundred Years War was won by children their age,” Kilaun said. “Of course, it wouldn’t take you much to defeat them, would it, Avatar? Just bend the foundation of the building, bring it down around us. That’s what it would take to win, wouldn’t it?”

Korra felt a bead of sweat run down her brow. She looked down at Asami’s terrified face, then into the dead eyes of the children around her. Her heart was pounding in her chest. What would Tenzin do?

Korra took a deep breath, then raised her arms, folded them behind her head. “I surrender,” she said.

Kilaun laughed, low and deep. A smile crossed his face, then it suddenly darkened. “Good. Attack!”

“No!” Asami screamed.

The air was suddenly filled with noise – sizzling, whirring, sloshing, sparking. Korra crouched down, covered Asami with her body and prepared to feel pain.

End Part Four.


	5. Chapter 5

~*~*~

A knocking pounded through the room. Mako and Bolin turned their heads to meet it.

“Tukiko! Tukiyo!” called a voice behind the door. Mako recognized it as the male employee who led them to this trap.

The twins looked at each other. Tukiyo shrugged. Tukiko frowned and called out, “Go away!”

“Yeah, beat it!” Tukiyo said. “We’ve got attractive men tied up in here!”

“Police raid!” the man yelled. “We need to get out now!”

The man’s footsteps echoed through the small room as he fled. Mako couldn’t help but be frustrated. If he just had a little more time he could be out of this ice, and the cops would be right there to collect these two …

Tukiyo slumped over and whined. Tukiko’s lip curled in disgust.

“Kilaun was supposed to be done by now!” she said.

Tukiyo shrugged. “Maybe killing the Avatar takes a while.”

Tukiko sighed. She looked at her sister. “I don’t know. Now what? Do we kill them?”

Tukiyo’s eyes widened. “DO we kill them? Is that a thing we do?”

“Ugh! Tukiyo!”

“What?”

“Why do you have to say that out loud?”

“Hey, I’m secure enough to admit my insecurities in front of the hostages,” Tukiyo tilted her head to the side as if in deep thought. “Is being unsure of whether or not you kill people an insecurity?”

Bolin took the opportunity to shuffle closer to Mako. “Got any plans?” he whispered.

“I’ve been trying to melt this ice around me since they caught us,” Mako said. “It feels like I’m almost there. If I had a few more minutes …”

Bolin let out a battle cry and threw his body against Mako. The twins stopped insulting each other long enough to stare at the both of them.

“Ow!” Mako yelled. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry!” Bolin winced. “It’s weak now. Let me try one more time …”

Mako groaned as Bolin slammed into him again, but this time the ice shattered. He was free.

“Tukiyo!” the earthbending twin screamed. But Mako had leapt to his feet with a fiery kick. He could feel Tukiko’s marbles whiz past his head, ducked low before sending flaming punches in their direction.

The blasts didn’t connect with the girls, but one hit and ignited the wall. Tukiyo bent the water from her skein toward the blaze, dispersing it, and the twins used the newly-formed hole in the wall to flee.

“Ugh.” Mako pressed his palm against the ice around Bolin. “Any chance there’s some stone in these walls?”

“I tried that,” Bolin flexed his arms as he cracked free of the ice. “Seems like all wood.”

“Then get the cops. I’ll try to corner them.”

Bolin rammed his shoulder against the door, busting it open, while Mako darted through the hole in the wall.

The adjacent room was dark, the red-light lamp that once stood on the center of the table now shattered on the floor. Mako looked around as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

“Hurrgh!”

Mako spun to the right to meet the voice, cried out and almost tripped backward as a staff formed out of ice slammed against his head. The twin had been lying in wait for him, Mako realized. She swung at Mako again, but Mako sliced his hand through the air, cutting the staff in half with a flame. The twin growled and tossed the broken hunk of ice at him, missing him by a foot.

Mako smirked. “That’s how you waterbend? My bondmate could have one hand tied behind her back and wipe the floor with you.”

As soon as he said it, Mako felt a water whip lash across his back. The twin in the front of him reached into her bag. He groaned as rocks ricocheted off his body.

Tricked again, Mako thought angrily as he hit the ground. When Mako looked back he saw the twins retreating, one of them blowing him a kiss as she went.

“Bye now!” she chirped.

Mako ran after them, watched their backs as they retreated down the south staircase, as the door slammed behind them at the bottom of the stairs. He’d leaped down three steps at a time, kicked open the door with a thud, but they were gone by the time he got to the street.

His chest felt tight. He’d already felt frustrated and embarrassed that he let the twins get away, but if Korra was in trouble … Mako looked out at the maze of streets before him, the fight he’d had with Asami earlier ringing in his ears, then turned back into the club.

Wherever you are, Korra, he thought as he ran back up the stairs, be okay just a little bit longer. Please.

When Mako had gotten back to the upstairs hallway, had run down to the main room of the bar, the place was swarming with officers in plainclothes and gray cloth uniforms. Many of the patrons had been made to stand against the walls while officers questioned them. At the same time the employees (including that poor guy in the sparkly underpants) were being led away in handcuffs. He finally caught sight of Bolin. His brother was talking to a male Yang officer, then he yelled out a “Hey!” as said officer slapped handcuffs around his wrists.

“Stop!” Mako ran toward him. “He didn’t do anything!”

“All Yins are headed to the local precinct for questioning,” the officer snapped.

“What?” Bolin cried.

“Are you kidding me?” Mako yelled. “So every Yin here is a prostitute now? You’d think after everything that happened with the Equalists you guys would have actually learned something …” Another young male Yang officer grabbed Mako’s wrists, locked them behind his back. “Oh come on! I’m an in-between, you idiots!”

“Heh. That’s what they all say when you’re ready to take them away,” the first officer said.

The officers frog-marched them outside. It was just as much as a madhouse as inside the bar. Several Yin men and women were being carted into police cars, and while some Yangs (including a guy in an Amon costume Mako resented feeling sorry for) were begging for their partner to be set free, others were pressed against the police cars and patted down by the police.

“No!” moaned a Yang woman Mako recognized as from the mah jong table. Tears ran down her face as an officer took three thick rolls of yuans from her dress pocket. “My precious money …”

The officer behind Mako poked him in the back with his baton. “In the car. Now!”

“What do we do?” Bolin asked Mako.

“Please,” Mako turned to his captor, his lips turned down and his eyes wide in a way he hoped looked as contrite as possible. He wasn’t afraid of spending the evening at the precinct, but … “Our friends are in trouble. I swear we’ll come along with you, but if you could call some metalbending cops to the area …”

“Don’t pull that ‘poor, innocent Yin’ bull on me, you trollop!” The officer was screaming at him now, his face puffy and red. “Get your butt in the car and if I hear one more peep out of you …”

“That’s enough!”

The stern, familiar voice was joined by the even more familiar metal clonking against the ground as Lin Beifong walked toward them. Despite their earlier bravado, the officers were cowed enough by her presence to lower their eyes and mutter her name.

Beifong thrust out her hands, breaking the cuffs around Mako and Bolin’s wrists, then held out her palm to the cop who’d arrested Mako.

“Give me your badge number this instant,” Beifong demanded. Mako and Bolin went to her side.

“Chief Beifong, I was only bringing these Yins in for questioning,” the cop said as he handed his badge over to her. “The procedure dictates …”

“I know what the procedure dictates,” Beifong said, scribbling his name so hard on a notepad she’d taken out of her pocket that Mako could hear it. “It says we don’t take anyone into custody, no matter what their gender, without reasonable suspicion. And it also dictates that you’ll be facing some stiff consequences for calling a person you thought was a victim of sex trafficking a ‘trollop.’ I order anyone who isn’t an employee of this place to be set free. Do you hear me?”

The Yang officer snarled, but nodded.

Beifong sniffed and waved as she turned away. “Come with me, boys.”

Mako and Bolin followed Beifong as she led them from the fray and down the adjacent street.

“Um, thanks so much, Chief Beifong,” Bolin said in a timid attempt to break the silence.

“Don’t thank me,” Beifong snapped, stopping dead in her tracks. “I’m only here because Tenzin let slip to me your stupid plan and I was foolish enough to be worried about you. Where’s Korra?”

Mako sighed sadly. “We don’t know. These girls working for a trafficking triad tied us up –”

“This was about fifteen minutes ago,” Bolin added. “They’re these twin benders except one bends earth and the other bends water –”

“And they’d said they’d lured Korra and Asami somewhere close by –”

“But we don’t know where.”

Beifong crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “So you’re telling me the two of you were captured twice in the last half hour?”

Mako and Bolin shot each other a look. Mako coughed loudly while Bolin scratched the back of his head with one hand and laughed nervously as he shrugged.

Beifong sighed. “Do you boys have any idea at all where she might have gone?”

As soon as she said it a booming sound echoed in the distance. The three of them looked above the rooftops to see a blue light shine to the southeast.

“Um, maybe there?” Bolin asked, but Mako was already sprinting in that direction, yelling Korra’s name.

~*~*~

In the minute in which Asami Sato thought she was going to die, this is what happened.

She had been clutching her right arm – now useless and aching – when the children attacked. Her mind was cloudy from the pain, but the fear and agonizing helplessness that had wracked through her since Kilaun broke her arm had made her wonder if it was really all over. Then when Korra laid across her, tried to shield her, Asami worried instead for her friend.

Korra had her head down next to Asami’s, close enough that Asami could feel her ponytails brush her cheek. Then Korra looked up, her eyes glowing blue.

Korra crouched above Asami, spun her arms around and formed a ball of rock around them out of the concrete floor. The glow in Korra’s eyes shone brighter, then suffused her entirely.

Asami had to turn away as the light burned her eyes. When she looked back, a muscular man in a green and yellow hanfu crouched above her, his eyes glowing like Korra’s.

Asami’s mouth dropped open, not in fear but in awe. She’d seen Korra in the Avatar State before, when Korra restored Lin Beifong’s bending. But that was nothing like this. The past Avatar above her stomped on the ground and punched the air above them, which caused the rocky foundation to shoot up as a column surrounding them and the fire to burn a hole through the house above. A strong arm gripped around her waist as she felt herself and the Avatar propelled into the air.

~*~*~

Meanwhile, Korra was somewhere else, and in some other time, entirely.

She was standing in an open field, some place that would have been green and peaceful but the sun was setting and gave the tall grasses and bubbling brook a sinister feel. It wasn’t far from civilization – Korra could see the outline of what looked like a large village nearby – but it was remote enough that this place reminded her more of home than Republic City.

Kyung the Furious stood in front of her. At his feet lay two big and strong Yang males, while a Yang woman stood across from him, her legs dropped in a horse stance and her teeth bared in a snarl. She was pale-skinned with brown hair, like the men at Kyung’s feet, and her limbs were a flurry of strong punches and kicks that sent rock and dust flying in Kyung’s direction.

Kyung had countered some of the dust with blasts of water from the brook, but one particularly large rock had hit his face. He looked up, his nose bleeding and his eyes brimming with rage. He raised his hand, and lightning seemed to crackle in it, but then Kyung paused, shook his head. He threw a punch, sending fire shooting toward the woman.

She roared in response. Then she leaped off the ground, the earth in front of her rising as she did so, and kicked it with both feet toward Kyung. His eyes glowed as he used airbending to leap above it, then flip over. When he hit the ground he thrust his fists forward, sending the earth near his opponent jutting up like spikes into her stomach.

When the woman fell, Korra could tell she had been defeated. She was still conscious but breathing heavily, and her eyes fluttered. Kyung propelled himself toward her, landed with his legs straddling her waist. His fists knotted the cloth of her dress near her shoulders as he pulled her up to meet her face to face.

“You and your brothers’ reign of abuse and misery is over, Zetian,” Kyung said as his eyes lost their glow. “You thought yourselves the world’s greatest Yangs, but even you cannot beat me. Acknowledge me as your superior Yang, Zetian! Acknowledge your defeat at the hands of the Avatar.”

Zetian said nothing. She looked at Kyung as if she’d never seen him before, her fluttering eyes struggling to focus, but before they closed, she just smiled.

~*~*~

Mako saw the house first. It looked like a cannonball had been shot out of its roof – was mostly intact but surrounded by the debris from the interior explosion. Meanwhile, a fire hydrant in front of the house had been broken, spewed a thick jet of water up and onto the street. In the jet’s shadow, amidst soggy bits of wood and roof tile, a dark-skinned man with glowing eyes loomed protectively over Asami. She was holding out her arm to him, which was surrounded by glowing blue water which he commanded.

Mako’s brain understood the situation before his emotions could take it all in. In that moment he was glad the two of them were both okay, worried for Asami, in awe of the Avatar possession taking place before his eyes, but also frightened by it and scared for Korra. He’d run as fast as he could to where the blue light had shone, but upon approaching them he simply slowed down until his steps became intermittent plops in the watery street, then stopped.

The Avatar looked up at him. He pulled his hands away from Asami, who rubbed her arm where he had healed it. Asami’s eyes then followed the Avatar as he stepped over her, walked toward Mako.

“Hmm …,” the Avatar purred, his voice echoing in Mako’s ears as he stroked the back of his hand along Mako’s cheek. “I smelled a bit of my successor on the girl and thought she might have been our new bondmate. It seems I was wrong.”

Mako opened his mouth to respond, to ask who this Avatar was and what he wanted, but before he could he felt the Avatar’s strong arms around his waist, felt lips against his own and a tongue inside his mouth. The effect on his body was immediate and embarrassing. A strong Yang scent filled his nose, one that slowly became more familiar.

When he felt the lips upon his own slacken and fall away, he opened his eyes to see Korra. She swooned in front of him, struggling to hold onto his waist as she lost consciousness.

“Korra!” Mako tightened his grip on her, caught her and tried to pull her to her feet before she fell to the ground. He could hear Bolin and Beifong approaching from behind him.

Korra groaned as she woke up again. Her eyes met Mako’s and she smiled. She let out a giggle. “You smell so nice right now …” she said. She licked her lips.

Mako felt his cheeks burn. “Um, um …” he babbled, stopped trying to talk when Beifong called Korra’s name.

~*~*~

After a mangled attempt at a brief explanation, the five of them headed back down into the basement. Kilaun and the children were gone. Beifong used her seismic sense and found a tunnel hidden in the basement to the city’s underground, but they couldn’t figure out where any of them had gone from there. Korra wished she’d brought Naga to track them.

Next they searched the house – or what was left of it after Kyung had blown a hole through it. (Had that really happened? Korra thought she would have remembered it.) Unfortunately, the search revealed very little. It did seem like Kilaun and his triad had used it as a brothel at one point, but there was very little physical evidence other than some used and unused prophylactics and a couple of empty syringes. Beifong pocketed them to send back to the laboratories at Police Headquarters.

“I still don’t think this is something you should get involved in,” Beifong told Korra as they walked back to Asami’s car. “Amon is gone. All of you were captured or severely hurt at one point on this mission. Take the time to practice your airbending and let the police do their job.”

Korra shook her head. “That little girl came to me specifically to ask for my help. And I don’t think this is a normal triad. They’re doing something to those kids’ minds. I’m sure of it. Those kids may not believe it now, but they need me.”

“Someone in a desperate situation can be easily convinced by lies, Korra. The events of the past year must have taught you that.”

“Isn’t that all the more reason I should be involved?”

Beifong groaned. “Sometimes I see you have Avatar Aang’s heart,” she said, “But you’ll also say just about anything to make your point, and that worries me.”

In Korra’s mind that was close enough to a “yes.”

Nobody spoke for some time after that. Korra thought about talking to Mako but anything she wanted to say should probably be kept quiet now that those feelings from being in the bar and kissing him (that Kyung instigated it just seemed bizarre more than anything else; she almost couldn’t process it) were still whirling around in her head.

When the car was in sight, Asami’s steps slowed. She looked back at Korra, her face forlorn.

Korra gulped. She was worried about what this would be. Seeing her and Mako together like that must have been rough for Asami. But would Asami take Korra to task for that? She usually didn’t. Was something else bothering her? Ugh, Korra didn’t want to have this conversation at all but maybe she should ask what was wrong …

“I’m not completely Fire Nation, you know,” Asami finally said.

Korra blinked. Huh? So this wasn’t about Mako? Asami pointed to her green eyes and it all clicked into place.

“Oh, that,” Korra smiled with relief. “That was stupid. Even if you had all Fire Nation heritage, that doesn’t make you responsible for anything they did. Nobody would blame you for what your father did so why would anyone blame you for stuff that’s ancient history now? And those things Kilaun said about your father’s money and inventions … I mean, you’re using it for good now, right? That’s what counts.”

“But it is his and I didn’t …” Asami sighed, shook her head. “No, that’s not why I’m upset. I’m upset because I usually don’t act like that.”

“Like what?” Korra asked, but Asami didn’t answer. They’d reached the car. Beifong and the boys were climbing into the backseat. Asami stood in back of it, her arms crossed.

Korra tried again, placed her hand on Asami’s shoulder. “Asami?”

“Like a …” Asami started to say. Then she shook her head violently, her eyes glassy. “I don’t think you’d understand, Korra.”

“But –”

“Let me just take you back to the island, okay?” Asami snapped. She pulled away and slid into the driver’s seat. Korra followed after a moment, feeling even worse about their friendship than she had before.

~*~*~

The rest of the night – or the early morning – didn’t go well for Korra. As she rode on Naga to the King Kuei Detention Center, located so far on the eastern outskirts of the city that it was almost in the mountains, she let what happened churn in her head.

Asami had left for the Sato mansion as soon as she’d dropped them off at the docks. Korra had tried to insist that it was too late and she should stay in one of the women’s dorms – less out of a true desire to have her stay than a sense of responsibility – but Asami demurred, saying she needed some time to think about things.

Korra had also wanted to spend some time with Mako last night, especially after Bolin told her and Asami about what they’d been through. But when she approached Mako’s room, she found him arguing with Bolin.

“You’re not fine, okay?” Bolin’s voice was filled with frustration, a desperate whine almost on the edge of a yell. “Why won’t you talk with me about this? Who would understand if not me?”

“I’m doing what needs to be done,” Mako’s back was up against the wall, his shoulders hunched and his arms crossed. “That’s what you should be doing too.”

“But –”

“Go to bed, Bolin.”

Bolin shook his head as Mako made for his bedroom door. When it slid open Bolin held out his hand. “Wait. I need to ask you something,” he said to Mako’s back. “Do you remember that day you came to pick me up from the safehouse and you had new clothes for both of us? Not just the shirt and pants but new shoes and underwear and everything? All that right after we had barely anything to eat for weeks? Where did you get that money, Mako? You can tell me.”

Korra thought Mako might have paused, but when he did speak the words were quick.

“I don’t remember. I bought you a lot of things.” He closed the door behind him and Korra decided not to follow him in.

Korra slept uncomfortably, without dreaming, and woke up uncharacteristically early enough that when she went to the dining hall for breakfast she found only Pema with baby Rohan and Shuchun. Korra tried to ask Shuchun how she was and how she was getting along with the airbender kids, but the young girl mostly answered in short mumbles and nods. When Tenzin came into the room to tell her that she had a call from Lin Beifong, Korra felt relieved, but guilty.

She was going to meet Beifong now. Naga was happy to be out, although she paused at every intersection, unsure of where to go, which sometimes attracted the attention of curious children and scared adults. When Naga stopped near the hospital, sniffing the air, Korra paused a moment. Shoot, she’d completely forgotten about that article about Dr. Auckaneck she’d wanted to read. Did it really matter, though? So she knew he was an Equalist? What did that have to do with anything going on now?

“I feel like my past lives keep giving me homework,” Korra griped to Naga as they continued down the street. Naga grunted in what Korra liked to think was agreement.

~*~*~

It had been almost three months since Korra had seen Amon’s lieutenant, but as the metal doors slid open and he walked into the interrogation room, a metalbending cop holding each of his arms, she found him unrecognizable.

At first she thought it was that his mustache had been shaved off. Then she wondered if she just wasn’t used to seeing his eyes without the goggles. Then the true reason hit her.

“Where’s his scent?” Korra whispered to Beifong, who sat next to her at the interrogation table.

“It’s the suppressants,” Beifong whispered back. “The ones we put the Yin prisoners on are stronger than the ones sold commercially.”

Korra’s eyes widened. “You force them to take suppressants?”

“It’s for their own protection.” When Korra could only look at her in horror, Beifong scowled. “Look, save your moral crisis for later. We’re doing an interrogation. Look tough. You’re good at that.”

The cops plopped the prisoner down into the seat in front of them. Korra scrunched her face into a glare, which he gave right back to the both of them.

“I already told you everything,” the prisoner rasped.

“This isn’t about Amon.” Beifong leaned forward and folded her hands together. “We’re looking for a man who may have been an associate of his. A man named Kilaun.”

He raised his eyebrow. “Amon knew a lot of people. You expect me to remember a specific one out of thousands?”

“He’s a not a follower,” Korra said. “Well … I don’t think he was, anyway. He said Amon defeated him in battle.”

The man snorted. “Well, that narrows it down.”

A cop held out his hand and the prisoner groaned as his handcuffs contracted more tightly around his wrists.

“Stand down, officer,” Beifong snapped.

The prisoner breathed a sigh of relief as the cop pulled back his hand, but the release didn’t serve to make him any more compliant.

“What is it you want from me?” he snarled at both of them. “I’ve given you everything! Locations. Names. Plans. And for what? I still get attacked in this prison and I can barely think sometimes with these suppressants. I identified his stinking corpse for you! How far is this going to go?”

The female Yin officer snorted. “Keep on crying, terrorist.”

Beifong yelled at the officer, but the prisoner took the moment to lunge for her. The fight ended with the three metalbenders lashing him to the chair.

“I’m through helping you!” he screamed at them as he struggled in his bonds.

“Fine!” Beifong stood up, hands in fists at her side. “Officers, take him back to his cell. Come on Korra, we’ll see if Hiroshi talks.”

The officers put the prisoner on his feet. Korra had stayed in her chair during the fight, unsure of what to do. When she watched the officers take him away, she was still unsure.

“Wait,” Korra said as she stood up. The officers did so, looked back at her, but the prisoner stared straight ahead. “Look, I won’t pretend we’re friends or anything. You’re mad at us, and I don’t really like you, either. But I met a little girl. A little non-bender girl, if that makes any difference to you. And she’s in trouble because of this man, this man who Amon might have known. Maybe you’ll never stop hating benders. Maybe … maybe we haven’t given you a reason not to. But can you help us? For her?”

“I didn’t make the choice to hate benders,” the prisoner snapped. The officers shook their heads, hoisted him up by the armpits and started to walk away.

“He’s a sex trafficker,” Korra called after him, desperate. “Really tall. Big and muscular. He’s Water Tribe but not really. Very, very strong. Can you remember anything? Please?”

“Korra, please,” Beifong said. She sounded almost embarrassed. “Let it go.”

The officers slid open the door.

“Wait …”

Korra’s heart started pounding as the prisoner turned back. She’d broken through to him? She really had?

“How strong is he?” the prisoner asked.

“Well, um …” Korra’s face brightened in a smile when she figured it out. “Hey, you remember how I kicked you in the face all those times?”

Beifong groaned and shook her head. The prisoner just exhaled deeply, as if he expected the humiliation.

“Yes.”

“Well … I couldn’t break out of this guy’s grip. He walked straight through my airbending. He broke Asami’s arm with one hand.”

The prisoner blinked, his face impassive. “Get them to take me off these drugs, Avatar.”

Korra nodded. “Done.”

“Korra!” Beifong grabbed onto her arm. “You can’t make that decision …”

The Yin female cop coughed loudly. “With all due respect, Chief, he is in solitary for most of the time. Would it really hurt to take him off the suppressants?”

Beifong’s eyes narrowed at the prisoner. She let Korra go and turned up her nose. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Korra glared at Beifong. The police chief sighed.

“Commissioner Lee makes the decisions in Correction. If it’s too much of a security risk, we’ll do something else that’s an equivalent,” Beifong said to the prisoner. “That I can promise you. Perhaps we haven’t given your past cooperation enough consideration.”

The prisoner didn’t speak or even nod, but he sat back down in the chair. When Korra and Beifong joined him, he told his story.

~*~*~

Even at the peaks of their revolution, at their greatest successes, the joys were never in the moment but in looking toward the future, in the constant dreaming of a better and brighter world. It was only now, when all those dreams had burned away and died, that the man once known as Amon’s lieutenant could conceive of the time as a happy one.

They had defeated the Triads. The Avatar had infiltrated Amon’s Revelation, but Amon was right in that it actually helped bring more nonbenders to the cause. Most of those who wished to become chi-blockers were content to follow the lines of information to one of the cells they had set up, but they had heard word of one man who was not content to do so, who demanded to see Amon directly.

“I don’t trust this,” Hiroshi Sato had said on that day. The three of them – Mr. Sato, Amon and himself – had gathered in an underground cell not far from Republic City Hospital East to meet this man. They sat around a table waiting for him. Mr. Sato wore a cloak that masked most of his face for the occasion. “What if this is a trick of the Avatar? Or that bigot of a councilman?”

“Councilman Tarrlok will not be a problem,” Amon answered. (Was there a hesitation, a hint of the truth in the way Amon said that? He couldn’t remember now.) “And when the Avatar confronts us, she will confront us directly.”

When Kilaun walked through the doors, the lieutenant – because that was who he was then, back when he existed only for the cause – was shocked by his clothes. Even among benders, the antiquated tribal affiliations were fading, were being replaced by a new identity as members of the United Republic. Some, of course, still clung to them, but they usually didn’t show an interest in the Equalists.

“The famous Amon,” Kilaun bowed as Amon stood up, and it was then that the lieutenant noticed his scent. The lieutenant was used to the aggressive scents of the Yang men of the underworld, but Kilaun’s scent was incredibly strong. If he was younger, he might have staggered, but instead he merely flinched.

Amon’s eyes followed the lieutenant beneath the mask. Hiroshi seemed to have smelled it, too. The lieutenant could hear the low growl in the back of his throat.

Kilaun sniffed the air loudly. “Interesting entourage you’ve got here.” The derision dripped from his voice. The lieutenant was growling now, too.

“You had business with me,” Amon said.

Kilaun smiled. The lieutenant couldn’t help but notice how much he mirrored the wolf on his helmet, his canines flashing like the beast’s fangs. “You know of me, of course?”

“No.”

The smile immediately melted. The lieutenant kept his face impassive, but inwardly enjoyed seeing the haughty Yang caught off guard. It was back by the time Kilaun answered, however.

“Well, I suppose not all of us can make our entrance into the underworld by dismantling all the bending triads in the span of a night,” Kilaun bowed again, holding his hand out to Amon. “My name is Kilaun, and I’ve come here because I know a winning team when I see one … well, almost. You’ll be a winning team with me.”

Amon simply watched him for a moment, his hands folded close to his chest. “Strong words.”

“Ones I stand by,” Kilaun said, puffing out his chest. “There were many benders running triads. Many non-benders, too. They don’t have the size that I have. They don’t have the connections I have. You want money? I’ve got it. You need weapons? I know where to go. You need any kind of supplies, I supply those who can get them.”

“And the benders?” Mr. Sato asked.

Kilaun laughed – a deep, derisive snicker that shook his shoulders. “I haven’t feared a bender since I was a teenage boy.”

At the time his words struck Amon’s lieutenant as bragging, albeit acceptable bragging – the bravado of a brave man ready and willing to become a soldier. None of them would have questioned it.

But Kilaun reached for a stone figure on the table in front of Amon. His hand shook as he gripped it. His teeth ground together. Even through the green haze of the goggles, the lieutenant fancied he could see a vein popping out of Kilaun’s head. The figure burst in his hand, cracking and crumbling to dust.

“He’s an earthbender!” Mr. Sato exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Kilaun snorted as he took a handkerchief out of a pocket inside his jacket and wiped the dust off his hands. “Have you ever seen a bender work? I assure you, I could wave my hands in front of a loose bit of dirt all day and it wouldn’t move in an inch. But put metal in my hand, put wood in my hand, and I would crush it. Crush it like the bones of countless benders who’ve tried to stand against me.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

Kilaun stared Mr. Sato up and down, and then smirked. He sat down in a chair at the table, placed his elbow on the table and held out his hand to Mr. Sato. “I think I smell a Yang under that foppish perfume. Care to test my strength yourself?”

Mr. Sato spluttered. “I should prove myself to you in a childish sport? You savage, brutish …” He turned to Amon, but their leader made no attempt to rescue him. Perhaps Amon, too, was curious. Furious, Mr. Sato sat down.

“Make sure he doesn’t cheat!” Mr. Sato said to the lieutenant as he gripped Kilaun’s hand.

The outcome of the match was apparent in seconds. The lieutenant searched for any flaw, any cheating in Kilaun’s stance, but he was as stiff and composed as a statue. Meanwhile Mr. Sato flailed about as he tried to push back against Kilaun, groaned as his arm hit the desk with a loud bang.

The lieutenant had hoped this sorry display was now over. Instead, Kilaun reached for Mr. Sato’s hood and pulled it back. He laughed when he saw Mr. Sato’s face, his hair disheveled and his gold eyes blazing behind his glasses.

“The great industrialist Hiroshi Sato,” Kilaun jeered. “You want to acknowledge me as your superior Yang, now?”

“You horrid savage, you –”

Mr. Sato screamed as Kilaun’s teeth clamped onto his neck. The insult spurred the lieutenant into action. He withdrew his kali sticks from his back, turned them on and rushed toward Kilaun. The brute responded with a roundhouse kick, knocking him back against the wall.

When the lieutenant recovered, tried to stand up, Kilaun sneered at him, brushed the lapels on his coat.

“Perhaps you’ll think twice before raising your hand to your betters, Yin.”

“That’s. Enough.”

The tone in Amon’s voice shocked the lieutenant. He had never heard Amon yell – and Amon didn’t yell in that moment. Yet there was an unmistakable anger in his tone which the lieutenant had never heard before. Kilaun just looked at him, proud and unrepentant, as Amon stared him down, body bent forward and his palms on the table.

Then Amon stood up straight. “Would you sit down, Mr. Kilaun?” he asked – and he was the lieutenant’s Amon again, so reasonable and in control, a man who drew people to him not through his scent but through the force of his ideas. “You’ve demonstrated your strength. But there’s more we need to discuss. As gentlemen.”

Kilaun smiled, although not completely. He sat down with a wide stance. The lieutenant and Mr. Sato, who was still rubbing his hurt neck, joined him on either side.

“I hope you don’t mind a personal question, Mr. Kilaun,” Amon said, his hands folded again, “But why do you dress like that?”

Kilaun raised an eyebrow. “A man in a mask asks me why I dress the way I do?”

“So you acknowledge it as a costume?” Amon rejoined.

Kilaun frowned. “My mother was Water Tribe. In me lives their strength, their traditions, their connection to the brute forces of nature, their wisdom in seeing the way things truly are, and the way things ought to be.” The lieutenant saw him send a deliberate sneer his way at the last sentence.

Amon looked him over again. “I see. So, you’ve never actually been to the poles, have you?”

The response clearly stung. Kilaun responded in a snarl.

Unfettered, Amon stood up, held his hands behind his back. “It’s perhaps natural in a time of rapid change to cling to romantic notions of the past, but that’s all they are. And as things continue to change, as we change them, they’ll be washed away like all other illusions. Your childish dreams of supremacy, of Yangs ruling Yins through the ignorance of tradition, may have inspired in other eras, but we live in a more enlightened world, Mr. Kilaun. We are making a more enlightened world. And we do not require you.”

Amon nodded to Mr. Sato and the lieutenant. They followed him past Kilaun, back toward the entrance. At first, Kilaun just stood in place, staring at the ground with a dumbfounded expression, not expecting to be rejected. However, when the three of them had turned their back on him, Kilaun started to laugh.

“Well,” Kilaun finally said with a chuckle. “I don’t know what I expected. But I know I didn’t expect you to believe the garbage you shill.”

Kilaun struck first, but Amon seemed to anticipate him, slid to the side as Kilaun’s fist went flying into the door, cracking it. Kilaun spun around, struck again in Amon’s direction. Amon ducked, then caught Kilaun’s arm as he came up again. Amon turned and flipped Kilaun over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground.

Kilaun roared, then coughed as he jumped back on his feet. He charged at Amon again, but more intelligently this time. He drew back when Amon seemed to parry his strike, then switched and punched with his other arm. The blow almost hit Amon; the lieutenant could hear him let out a breath in surprise as he dodged again. Then Kilaun charged once more, but seemed to suddenly stop, looked back at his heel.

“What the – UGH!”

Amon hit Kilaun in the throat, grabbed onto his head and pulled Kilaun down as he kneed him in the stomach. The sound of Kilaun’s body hitting the ground thundered throughout the room.

“How… how can you?” Kilaun groaned. Then he shook his head, tried to force himself to his feet. “No. No! I’m stronger than you! I’m stronger! I’m the strongest Yang alive!”

Kilaun roared as he leaped at Amon, but his trajectory was wide. He moaned as he hit the ground, clutched onto his abdomen and curled up in the fetal position. At the time, the lieutenant couldn’t help but take pleasure in how pathetic he looked.

“No, that’s … I’ve been fighting for years.” Kilaun writhed on the ground, a few times struggled to get up and found his arms collapse underneath him. “What is wrong with me? What have you done to me? I’ve fought men bigger than you. Pro-benders quake in my presence. You’re cheating. You’re cheating! You’re cheating!”

“It’s tradition to take defeat gracefully, Mr. Kilaun,” Amon said. He rolled Kilaun over with his foot, then waved to the others. “Let’s leave this relic to his delusions of the past.”

The lieutenant and Mr. Sato followed Amon out the door. At the time, the lieutenant had dismissed what Kilaun said next as ravings, but some of it came back to him now. 

“You think you’ve won … You haven’t won … You proved my point. You won because you’re stronger. Everyone wins because they’re stronger … The world is formed on strength. You’ll see. You’ll see. I spit on your equality, you hear me? Spit on it! You’ll see! I’m the strongest Yang alive!”

~*~*~

“So what do you like to do, anyway?”

Jinora looked up from practicing her movements with Meelo on the Yin-Yang symbol of the airbending training plaza. Ikki was sitting with Shuchun on the steps surrounding it. She was looking at the new girl with suspicion, brows low over her eyes and her lips pouted. Shuchun stared at her feet, twiddled her thumbs, tried to turn away.

Meelo wasn’t seeing what was happening. “Why’d you stop?” he asked Jinora.

“I’ll be right back.” Jinora walked over to the girls. Better to head this off before it gets out of control, she thought. “Ikki, why don’t you come practice with us? I think Shuchun might want to be left alone.”

“All she wants to do is be left alone!” Ikki whined and crossed her arms. “Mommy said to play with her and be nice to her, but she doesn’t do anything! She just sits around and looks sad all the time.”

“She kind of does,” Meelo chimed in.

Jinora frowned at him. Shuchun’s lower lip started trembling. Upset, Jinora sat down next to Shuchun, tried to ignore Ikki’s jealous glare.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she said. “Look, I can play with you if you want. How about we all go take a ride on a sky bison?”

“I already took her on a sky bison,” Ikki complained. “We only went 500 feet in the air and she puked over the side.”

Shuchun blushed and stared at the ground.

“Oh … well, that’s okay. We can go chasing winged lemurs …”

“One attacked her head.”

Jinora sighed. “Well, how about we just go for a nice walk …”

“She says her feet are tired.”

“Well, um …” Shuchun mumbled. “I ran a lot two days ago … I’m … I’m really sorry.”

“No, no, no!” Ikki yelled, shaking her arms around. “That’s all you’ve said since you’ve gotten here! ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry.’ Stop saying sorry and start not being boring, already!”

Shuchun wailed and covered her face with her hands. Jinora let out a long sigh and frowned. “Why did you have to say that, Ikki?”

“No …” Shuchun sniffled and wiped her eyes. ”Ikki’s right. I am boring. And I’m scared of lots of things. And I look sad all the time because I am sad all the time. And I’m sorry because I don’t want to be sad. I don’t want to be scared. But my brother is gone and I know the Avatar will help me but … but …”

Shuchun continued to cry. Meelo walked up to her and hugged her. When she kept on sobbing, he squeezed her tighter, making an “Mmmmmm!” noise.

“Why isn’t it working?” Meelo asked Jinora.

Suddenly Shuchun let out another wail. Jinora thought she was just crying again, but then the girl gripped onto her stomach, started to fall over.

“Hey!” Ikki reached out, caught her. “What’s wrong?”

“I … I don’t know,” Shuchun groaned. “I think I’m sick again.”

“We’ll get you to Mom,” Jinora said. She grabbed onto Shuchun beneath her shoulders, hoisted her to her feet.

Shuchun shook her head. “No, it’s okay. This happened before. I think I just need to lie down and I’ll feel better soon.”

“Well, all right. I’ll help you.” Jinora led Shuchun up the steps of the plaza, one at a time, and then off to the women’s dormitory, Ikki and Meelo following close behind.

~*~*~

It had been many hours since their escape. The children were back in the basement. Some of them were bruised, a few others required bandages, but otherwise they would be ready to work as soon as possible.

“Did you get her back?”

Tukiko’s red-painted mouth curled into a sneer as the young man, one of the few they had left behind, had asked the question. But when she turned back to him, she smiled.

“These things take time, Jiayi,” Tukiko said. She pet him on the head, unheeding of how he shuddered. “We’ll find the pack who took her, don’t worry. The best you can do for her for now is continue to work. Do you understand?”

Jiayi bowed his head. “Yes, mistress. I understand. Just please find her. I miss her so much.”

Tukiko’s own sister was waiting for her on the stairs, gave her a smile before they walked upstairs together to Kilaun’s office.

It was on the third floor, in the back of the building, a strange cross of a study and the inside of a Southern Water Tribe yurt – the modern desk and upholstered chair clashing with the wolfskin rug and tribal weapons. Kilaun stood by the fire he always lit on all but the hottest days, his face sour in the flames’ light.

“The children are all accounted for, Kilaun,” Tukiyo said.

Kilaun looked up for the fire, his face still fierce and angry. “Is that the way you greet the pack leader to whom you owe your bending, your lives?”

The twins shot each other a nervous glance, but then walked toward Kilaun. He clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. They kissed his cheeks.

“You’re good girls,” he said, letting his hands rub up and down their arms. “A credit to your genders. We won’t let this setback bother us.”

“Kilaun …” Tukiyo started to say, but her sister poked her hard with her elbow, shut her up.

Kilaun’s eyes narrowed. “Did you have something to say, girl?”

“Just …” Tukiyo looked quickly at her sister before answering. “Do you really think we have a chance of defeating the Avatar?”

Kilaun chuckled deeply. “That pervert Amon almost did. Aren’t we much, much stronger than him?”

“Yes,” Tukiko answered the question like a top of the class student who knows exactly the right answer when called upon. “Amon built a revolution on lies, but we are agents of the truth, of the true nature of humans, and that is why we’ll win.”

“Good, Tukiko.” Kilaun then addressed the other sister. “The Avatar was able to beat Amon because she discredited him. She’s a Yang. A Yang twisted by her proclivities and this unnatural new order, but a Yang nonetheless. She’s a pack leader, and she won because she cost Amon his pack.”

Kilaun reached into his jacket. He pulled out the three pictures from the Equalist newsletter: Mako, Bolin, Asami. He fanned them out in his hand, showed them to the twins. Sinister smiles curled their painted lips.

“So,” Kilaun said. “Let’s take our pick of hers, shall we?”

End Part 5.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update 10/8: I started this new fanfic before Book 2 began, and I edited a bit of the first chapter to make it fit in better with some revelations from the new canon episodes. Hope old readers still like them and new readers won't find them awkward. Enjoy the fic!

~*~*~

Korra had a lot on her mind, but as she lay next to Mako on his bed, it all tended to circle back to one thought.

“So,” Mako said, his eyes following the progression of Korra’s hand as it traveled to the space where his white tank top met his boxers. “Um … Heh. What were you saying about the interrogation?”

“Huh?” Korra looked up at him, trying to break herself out of the hormone-induced trance she kept slipping into. It had been awhile since she’d seen Mako wearing so little, and now that they were a couple she enjoyed openly appreciating it. “Oh, right. It was interesting, but Beifong pointed out we still don’t really have a lot of practical information on Kilaun. We basically just know he was never an Equalist and why he didn’t like Amon.”

“Did you guys talk to Mr. Sato?”

“A bit. It was pretty unpleasant and in the end he only confirmed what we already knew.” Korra shook her head. “Prison’s making him worse.”

Mako nodded. “Bolin told me the last time Asami went to see him he said a lot of awful things to her.”

Korra made a small noise of agreement, but neither of them said much after that. Was this good for them, treating Asami as an eternal unspoken sore point even as they were trying to stay friends with her? Korra quickly decided she didn’t want to think about it.

“I’m having trouble contacting Kyung,” she said. “I’m getting better at meditating, even Tenzin says so. But I haven’t gotten any more visions of him since he helped me save Asami.”

“Who’s Kyung again?” Mako asked. “Was he the Avatar who kissed me?”

“Oh, he’s the Avatar who kissed you?” Korra teased, saying the “he’s” as if she actually were angry. “What about me?”

Mako tried to backpedal, but his words evaporated into a satisfied hum as Korra wrapped her arms around Mako’s neck and pressed her lips against his.

The kiss turned into more kisses, turned into Korra climbing on top of Mako. She liked how he felt in her hands; the hard muscle in his slender frame spoke to her as something challenging but ultimately pliable. Ever since she’d come to see him, Korra had felt her need for him like a hum beneath her skin, and now that humming had become a ringing in her ears. Her clitoris was stiffening beneath her clothes.

When they came up for air, Mako let out a needy moan. Yes, Korra thought. She ran her hands along his sides, knotted her fists in his shirt and dreamed of ripping it in half.

“Mine,” Korra said, an greedy grin on her face. “You’re all mine.”

Mako chuckled. “Someone’s excited.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Korra kissed along his neck. “And someone else should make it a point to wear less clothes.”

Mako raised an eyebrow. “I should wear less clothes? Me?”

“Yep.”

“That’s not fair. Haven’t you already seen me in my underwear and in a swimsuit? When am I going to see you without …?”

Korra didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence before she kicked off her boots and untied her pelt. Her pants were off next, then her shirt. She smiled as she caught Mako’s open-mouthed gape before removing her underclothes as well.

“Better?” Korra asked. She crawled next to him on the bed, a satisfied grin on her face.

Mako was still staring stupidly at her. Korra thought his eyes might have dropped to her crotch for a second, but then he was looking at her face again. “Um … wow. Yeah. It’s better.”

Korra took his wrists and laid them on her hips. She then leaned in to kiss him again, laying her naked body against his. To her joy and relief, Mako ran his hands along her curves, hesitating a moment before grabbing onto her butt, pulling her closer to him. Mako’s scent filled Korra’s nose, a hardness beneath the fabric of his boxers pressed against her own.

Given what happened last time, Korra ordered herself to go slow. She settled for his shirt, running her hands beneath it and pushing it up to his armpits. Korra kissed along Mako’s chest, down to his stomach. Her fingers edged again toward the waistband of his boxers.

Mako grabbed her underneath her arms, pulled her up closer to him. Korra wanted to protest but then he kissed her. He held her around the waist with one arm, while his other hand stroked her breast. 

Korra moaned softly. Mako nuzzled his nose against Korra’s neck, inhaled deeply. He must be smelling me, Korra thought as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She started rutting against him, her wet, stiff clitoris catching on the cloth of his boxers. She wanted to mount him, to taste him.

Mako flinched, almost froze, beneath her. His breathing had become heavy, ragged. His arms were squeezing her waist so hard it was starting to hurt.

“Mako?” Korra pulled back. Her hands cupped his chin. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Mako pushed Korra’s hands away. He hunched over as he turned away from her, pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead.

Korra groaned sadly. She tucked her knees against her chest and hugged them. “It was going so well, too.”

Mako glared at her. “Thanks for your sympathy, Korra.”

“Look, I’m trying to be patient, I really am,” Korra complained. “But between dealing with Shuchun and then smelling all those Yins in heat at that club I feel like I’ve just been going crazy. I’m a Yang, okay? I have needs.”

Mako shuddered. “How could that place have turned you on? That’s disgusting. People are getting hurt there.”

“I know that!” Korra protested. “It’s not my fault, how I feel. It’s a biological reaction.”

“Do you know how ignorant you sound right now, Korra?”

“Ugh!” Korra felt angry, and also awkward because now she was both naked and angry. She yanked up the bedclothes, wrapped them around her chest. “I don’t need to feel like some sort of ogre for wanting to mount my boyfriend. If you think I’m being some typical hormone-fueled Yang idiot, then you’re being a stuck-up, wishy-washy, frigid in-between!”

As soon as she said it, Korra knew she’d gone too far. Mako looked back at her, his golden eyes dark with rage.

“Mako, I …”

“Just go away,” he finally said. He went to the chest of drawers, started to dress.

Korra collected the pieces of her outfit from the floor, feeling sorry for herself. She knew she’d been selfish. She knew she should be better than saying something like that. Korra dressed herself, had finished tying the pelt around her waist when she heard the “woosh!” of a flame igniting behind her.

Korra turned to see Mako waving his arms, trying to put out the fire that had ignited on the drawers. His movements were uncharacteristically fumbling, seemed to only spread the flames. Korra put them out for him, leaving the drawers and wall behind it smoky and charred but mostly intact.

Mako was shaking. He was mostly dressed but he only had on one glove. He must have accidentally firebent while putting it on. Korra hugged him tightly, and Mako didn’t hesitate to hug her back.

“I’m sorry,” Korra said. “I don’t want to hurt you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Mako rubbed Korra’s shoulders as they broke the hug. “I really do. Please don’t think this is because I don’t love you. My head is crazy. I don’t know. I’ve never been in love with a Yang before, and I just … I hate that world that Shuchun fell into. I never wanted to be a part of it again.”

Korra’s stomach suddenly felt empty, her bones hollow. A lot of little things seemed to click into place. She looked into Mako’s eyes, trying her best to seem caring and sincere and comforting.

“Mako, I … I want you to know that I love you no matter what you’ve done, okay? I know things were hard for you and Bolin in ways I could never imagine, but the past is the past and …”

“What are you getting at?” Mako frowned.

Oh jeez, had she completely misjudged this? “I mean , I know you worked with a triad, and I heard Bolin talking about that time when you got a lot of cash suddenly and maybe you can’t tell him the truth, but you can always talk to–”

“I never had sex for money, Korra!”

Korra searched Mako’s face. He’d meant to sound outraged, but there was a defensiveness in what he said that didn’t seem to come from being scandalized.

“But that’s not the whole story, is it?” Korra’s voice was quiet, almost melancholy.

Mako’s hands gripped tighter on her shoulders. He went back to the drawers, put on his other glove.

“It was a long time ago,” Mako finally said. “I’ll figure this out, I promise.”

Korra hung her head as she closed his door behind her, as she left him alone.

“Everyone wants The Avatar to help them solve their problems,” Korra whispered to herself. “Everyone but her friends.”

~*~*~

The watch didn’t break when it hit the wall, but rather exploded, gears and jewels vomiting from the back and spilling all over the carpet.

Asami stared at its wreckage. She sighed as she folded her arms on her father’s desk, slumped over and laid her head on them.

It was stupid to get frustrated over this, Asami reminded herself. She didn’t have to try to fix that watch. There were several things that she could have been doing instead: seeking out potential investors, answering responses to her advertisement for new servants, brainstorming ideas on how to track down this triad. But Asami had fallen into a space of time where while there was much to do, nothing was pressing and immediate enough that she felt like she had to do it right away.

So she’d gone into her father’s workshed. Most of it had been cleared out, taken by the Equalists or confiscated by the Republic City Police as evidence, but some personal items had been left behind and stored in a crate. It was there that Asami found the broken watch. She brought it back to her father’s desk, laid out an old towel and tried to take it apart. Asami wanted to make sense of its parts, see if she could put it back together. But she’d only succeeded in twisting the metal on the springs, or trying to re-fit in a jewel only to have it slip out of her fingers.

Frustration had boiled in her chest. Even as she picked up the watch and hurled it at the wall, she had felt ashamed. But she couldn’t help it. She was shaking. It was so much like before.

(“Rich little pervert girl playing with her daddy’s toys …”)

“Pervert.” Asami whispered, feeling the slur in her mouth like a breath of some unpleasant chemical from one of her father’s plants.

It was a source of pride for Asami that (unlike Mako) she didn’t have any of the hang-ups or insecurities commonly associated with her gender. Perhaps she presented as a Yin more often than not with her feminine way of dressing, with her makeup and perfume. Growing up, it was always the pushy Yang boys and girls that found her attractive (although sometimes Asami wondered about that awkward Yin classmate with the huge glasses that stammered whenever she asked if she could carry Asami’s books for her). Asami learned early on how to politely demur most of them and to not-so-politely tell the rest of them to get lost – with physical force, if necessary. From the day she’d discovered her elongated clitoris, her mild sense of smell, she knew what she wanted, and was someone else like her. Asami dreamed of exploring another person’s body, switching off mounting and being penetrated in blissful harmony. 

“I don’t hate Yangs or anything like that,” Asami had explained to Mako as they walked along the streets of Downtown Republic City, yakitori in one hand and their fingers clasped together in the other. “The world needs some aggression, and aggression and submission are supposed to balance each other. Everyone learns that in school. It’s the cruelty and rage that comes with it that bugs me. Do you know what I mean?”

Mako had nodded. He went quiet for some time – and despite how often Asami had replayed the scene over and over in her mind, looking at the idyllic past for the moments that heralded her uncertain future – she could never remember how many moments had passed before Mako finally said, “But Korra’s not like that.”

Asami played that game a lot these days. Although as lonely as she felt sometimes, and as much as it hurt to see Mako and Korra together, she spent most of her energies trying to unravel her relationship with her father. Losing Mako had been painful, but in the end the break-up mostly felt like aggravation to that deeper betrayal.

She’d visited her father the other day. He called her ungrateful and crazy and evil. (“Do you think you can run that business on your own? What talents do you have? What business acumen? And do you think that firebending street rat and his lout of a brother can help you? Do you, Asami?”) Then, hours after she left, the warden called her saying Hiroshi had cried in his cell for hours and begged her to come back and see him. Asami hadn’t responded.

Asami had always thought of her father as one of the good Yangs. She used to look back with fondness on the day she told him that she had presented. Asami had gone into his office, hands behind her back to hide her nervousness. When she entered Hiroshi looked severe, almost spooked. She expected disappointment, maybe even disgust, but Hiroshi started to smile. He hugged her and said not to worry, and that he would always love her.

But why had he been so freaked out at first? Hiroshi had always thought she would be a Yin, but would probably have had less reason to worry about her safety if she had been a Yang. Asami knew now what Hiroshi had been afraid that she would say, and she wondered how things would have been different if she’d gone into the office and lit a flame in her hands.

How long had that rage been inside Hiroshi? How long had he hidden it behind that smile Asami had once thought of as kind? Asami’s heart pounded, her muscles tensed. She saw herself again attacking Kilaun, her vision blurry with anger.

A knocking at the door woke Asami up. Kiew, the Yin maid, stood in the door frame.

“Are you all right, Miss Sato?” Kiew asked. She looked at the gears and springs on the floor. “Shall I clean this for you?”

“No, I’ll get it.” Asami got up from the desk, started gathering the bits of metal in her skirt. “Thank you, Kiew.”

“If you’re sure …” When Kiew saw Asami nod she asked, “Will our mistress be eating in for lunch?”

“Yes, I’ll be ready in about an hour.” Asami looked up. “Do we have any more of that shrimp lo mein soup from last night?”

Kiew nodded. “I’ll heat it up for you.”

“Thanks Kiew,” Asami smiled. “I really appreciate it.”

The young maid nodded and closed the door behind her when she left. As she did so, Kiew walked through the kitchen, opened the back door to the woman waiting there.

“Miss Sato will be here for the next hour,” Kiew said as she let the visitor inside.

“Neat-O.” Tukiyo said as she shoved a thick stack of yuans into Kiew’s hand.

The maid nodded severely. “Those Equalist pig-chickens will pay for their crimes against humanity.”

“Yeah, they pretty much stink, I guess,” Tukiyo said as she walked around the kitchen, scanning the room with her hands on her hips. “Speaking of which, you should spend some of those yuans on some perfume. Whatever you’re stealing from the boss totally isn’t your odor.”

As Kiew slammed the door, Tukiyo’s eyes caught sight of the three foot tall refrigerator. She opened it up.

“Oooh! Shrimp lo mein soup.”

Tukiyo pulled the pot out. “I’ve got some time …” she said as she sat on the ground, the pot between her thighs. She leaned her head back and murmured happily as she waterbended globs of it directly into her mouth.

~*~*~

On Air Temple Island, it was also time for lunch. Pema had laid out a large pot of red-lentil based dal along with jasmine rice, which the airbender children were eyeing hungrily. It was a full table that afternoon and Korra had thought she would be the last one there when she slid in next to Mako, but Bolin wasn’t around and, after a few minutes of staring at the airbender kids, Korra realized Shuchun wasn’t with them either.

“She’s still sick,” Ikki said.

“What do you mean?” Korra asked. “Sick with what?”

Jinora shrugged. “She said she wasn’t feeling well yesterday but that she just needed to sleep for a while. That’s why she wasn’t here for breakfast.”

“Speaking of which,” Pema asked, a crooked smile on her face. “Where were you two lovebirds during breakfast?”

Korra’s face reddened. If only, she thought. She glanced at Mako, who just shook his head sadly. “I actually spent a lot of this morning reading and meditating,” Korra said.

Tenzin sighed and rolled his eyes as he stirred his dal and rice together.

“No, really, I was,” Korra said, crossing her arms. (It actually wasn’t a lie, even if she had decided to skip breakfast to sneak into Mako’s room. She decided she needed to think about something else afterward.) “I kept this news article on Dr. Auckaneck and I finally read it. Did you know that stuff about his Yin daughter running off with a Yang firebender? ”

“Isn’t that sort of old news?” Pema asked with a shrug. She adjusted Rohan in the sling around her body as she sat down to eat. “Good riddance, I say.”

“Well, yeah, but Aang sent me a dream where he announced the creation of suppressants. So I’ve been trying to contact Aang and Kyung …”

“You mean Kyung the Furious?” Tenzin asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Korra’s eyes widened. “Oh … I sort of got possessed by him the other day. Did I forget to tell you that?”

“Hey!” Meelo exclaimed. He jumped up and waved. “Here’s Shuchun! Shuchun’s all better!”

Korra smiled as the little girl plodded into the room, her hands folded behind her.

“Hey, Shuchun,” Mako said.

“The kids told me you were sick,” Pema said. “You should have said something to me. Do you think you can eat?”

Shuchun’s eyes darted from Mako to Pema to the children. She turned her head back toward the hallway, then suddenly ran to Korra. As Shuchun sat down between Korra and Mako she grabbed one of Korra’s arms and wrapped it around her shoulders, wedged herself so close to Korra that it almost hurt.

Everyone at the table was staring at them. Korra shrugged. Pema looked a little weirded out as she started spooning rice and dal onto a plate for Shuchun.

“Eat as much as you want, sweetie,” Pema cooed, trying to be encouraging, but Shuchun was back to picking at her food again.

“What’s wrong?” Korra asked.

Shuchun shook her head. “Nothing. I just really missed you a lot.”

Korra rubbed Shuchun’s arm. “Everything will be fine again very soon, okay?”

Shuchun nodded into Korra’s ribs. On the other side of the table, Meelo started asking Pema questions about when he would get to hold the baby, which broke out into an argument about why Jinora had been allowed to when he hadn’t. As Pema settled it, Tenzin set down his food.

“What do you think the past Avatars are trying to tell you?” he asked Korra.

“I don’t know,” Korra said. “Aang basically said I needed to know about how he didn’t like suppressants to go forward. Kyung hasn’t been that clear. But I think I saw him defeating The Three Yang Kings when he possessed me and saved Asami.”

“Ah, that old story,” Tenzin nodded. “It’s always been easiest for the current Avatar to contact the one directly preceding them. Have I told you about the Avatar Studies Collection at Republic City University? Sometimes my father would need to hold or wear something related to a previous Avatar to reach their spirit. Why don’t you stop by there today?”

“That’s a great idea,” Korra smiled. “Thanks, Tenzin!”

Korra heard footsteps behind her. Oh, Bolin. Finally.

“Well, look who’s up at the crack of noon,” Mako said as Bolin hugged him from behind. Well, to Korra it seemed more like a hug/slump. She’d never seen Bolin this sluggish before.

“Mako?” Bolin muttered into his brother’s neck as Mako reached up behind him and ruffled his hair.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, little bro.”

“No, like, I really love you.”

Mako raised an eyebrow. “Um, okay.”

Bolin squeezed Mako tighter. “You’re the coolest, smartest, bestest, most wonderful big brother in the whole wide world.”

Mako sighed deeply and rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”

“I can’t find my stuff. You know …” Bolin whispered into Mako’s ear. “My stuff.”

Korra blushed and turned away, trying not to listen.

“And … why would I know where that is?” Mako asked.

“Because you’re the coolest, smartest, bestest …”

“Did you check your drawers?”

“Yeah.”

“The bags from when we moved in?”

“Yeah.”

“How about your pockets?”

“I checked my pockets!”

“All of your pockets?”

Bolin’s mouth opened slightly. “Ohhhhh. Thanks, Mako!”

Pema had been watching this exchange closely after her kids’ argument had died down. She told the kids to go off and play and they did, Shuchun reluctantly following after Jinora tugged on her hand, her eyes still locked on Korra. Pema then asked Tenzin if he could take Rohan for a bit. Tenzin said he had to call his fellow councilmembers – something about a big change – and would take Rohan into his office.

“Bolin,” Pema said as she gathered up the dishes. “Why don’t you follow me into the kitchen? We should talk.”

“We should? Oh. Okay.” Bolin grabbed onto Mako’s hand and squeezed it, only letting go at the last possible second when he walked away.

“I’ll get the rest of it later,” Pema said. “Just remember to give me a hand next time, all right?”

“Sure,” Korra said as the door closed behind Pema.

Mako sighed. “Sorry about that. Bolin gets kind of weird at this time of the month.”

“Eh, I think it’s a little sweet.” Korra stood up. “Do you want to come with me to the library?”

Mako shook his head. “I think I still need some time to be alone. I’ll see what I can rustle up of my old contacts, maybe by the docks. Make myself useful.”

“Oh …” Korra pouted, disappointed. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

~*~*~

“I want you to take a sip of this,” Pema said as she poured the golden liquid from the teapot into a cup. “My mother used to give me ginger tea to help before heats. It eases the cramps and generally makes you feel better.”

Bolin eyed the steaming cup before taking a tentative sip. “I … kind of like it? I think. It’s different.”

Pema nodded and smiled as she watched Bolin drink larger gulps of the tea. It always gave her a deep sense of satisfaction to help Yins in need, to pass along the tips and the secrets that made their lives easier and brought them closer together.

“You know, Bolin,” Pema said. “The Air Nomads were the only truly Yin-focused culture in history. Tenzin’s worked all his life to preserve the culture for future airbenders, but also for the world. And that means all Yins, do you understand?”

“Um …” Bolin pursed his lips. “Kind of?”

Pema decided to press a little harder. “Why don’t you come to my meditation class?”

“Oh, that.” Bolin tapped his fingers against the cup. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m into that.”

“Very woo-woo, huh?” Pema nodded. She laid a hand on the sink countertop to steady herself and the other on her hip, still keeping the poses that made her the most comfortable in her pregnancy even though Rohan was already born. “I used to think that way. I really did. If my body didn’t react so badly to the suppressants I probably still would think it was nonsense. But it really works. And it doesn’t cost any money.”

“Mmm …” Bolin took another sip and wiped his mouth. “I can’t take days off for heats anymore if I want to get back into pro-bending, though.”

“But it’s the off-season, right? You can always go back on the suppressants when they open the arena again.”

Bolin nodded and stared into his tea. “It would be nice to not have to pay for that stuff. Mako would appreciate it.”

Pema laid a hand on his shoulder. “Look. When do you think your heat’s going to start? Tonight? Maybe tomorrow? Just try my class now and keep your suppressants on hand tonight. If you think you need them, use them, but try this. For yourself? Okay?”

Bolin gave Pema a small smile. “All right. I’ll go.”

Pema walked away from the conversation feeling proud of herself. She went to go collect the remaining dishes in the family’s private dining room, found a female Air Acolyte stacking them instead.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that. Anything related to my family is Tenzin’s and my responsibility,” Pema said, taking the dishes from the young woman. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”

“Yes,” the woman’s green eyes glittered as she smiled. Pema thought that while the woman was quite pretty, there was a hard edge in her look that she’d never seen on an Acolyte before. “I’m originally from the Eastern Air Temple. Just passing through.”

“Well,” Pema said, trying not to sound as ill at ease as she felt, “I hope you enjoy your stay.”

The woman bowed and left the dining hall. She then made her ways down the building’s hallway, peering subtly around corners until she saw Tenzin walking out of a room, holding a crying and smelly Rohan at arm’s length. The woman looked around, then crept inside the now-empty office. She picked up the candlestick phone’s earpiece and dialed a number.

“Yes?” came the deep voice on the other end.

“It’s Tukiko. The Avatar and her bondmate are leaving the island, but not together. Do you want to know where?”

~*~*~

The ferry ride to the mainland was short. In the past, Mako liked to use the opportunity to stare out over the city; even as a native the skyline never lost its wonder for him. Today, though, he stared blankly at the deck of the ship, feeling deeply lonely.

You’re doing it to yourself, a part of him chided, but that only made more frustrated.

He wanted to be a better boyfriend to Korra. No, a better bondmate, and all that word implied: love and sex and dreams of children and a family. And he did want all of those things … at one point. Sometimes he’d look at Korra and how much he loved her would just hit him. Other times he would touch her or smell her (or her past life would stick his tongue down his throat, Mako thought with a blush) and he’d feel desire course through him like lava. And yet …

(Mako kept his eyes closed. The bed was soft beneath him, softer than anything he’d ever felt. Mako wished he could just fall asleep on it as he felt the kisses on his neck, the Yang scent in his nose, the voice above him whispering that he was so young, so fierce, so handsome.)

The captain’s yell as the boat docked brought Mako back to reality, but he was still shaking a bit. His fear made him ashamed. His shame made him angry. “You’re not a child anymore,” he reminded himself.

Sure, he had trouble coming to terms with what he was, Mako thought as he walked down the boat’s plank. But didn’t most in-betweens? Was that really so horrible? Didn’t he deserve a time of adjustment? It wasn’t like he was depriving Korra of a Yin or some other antiquated nonsense (if that were true, she would have gone for Bolin right away, Mako told himself). Mako knew Korra had problems with patience but couldn’t she wait for him. Then again, he had been making her wait a very long time.

Mako started walking among the crowds, looking for anyone he might recognize. He adjusted the scarf around his neck, and a familiar ache rested in his chest.

At times like this Mako felt himself drawn back to the memory he was most ashamed of. He’d been very young – he couldn’t remember how young – in the tiny little apartment where they all used to live. He sat on the ground cross-legged, throwing a red rubber ball up in the air as high as he could before catching it. Bolin had wanted the toy, grunted and whined as he reached for it with tiny fingers.

“No, Bolin. I’m playing with it,” Mako had said, but Bolin grew persistent. He’d tried to climb on Mako to get it, which Mako tried to ignore until Bolin grabbed onto his face, digging a sharp nail into his eye.

“Stop it!” Mako yelled as he pushed Bolin away. A moment after his head hit the wooden floor, Bolin let out a loud cry, and Mako knew that he was already in trouble.

“What were you thinking?” His mother had one of Mako’s wrists in her strong hand as she screamed in his face.

“He started it!” Mako protested. It was his ball. Bolin hurt him. It wasn’t fair. Mako’s eyes darted to his father petting and gently rocking a still-crying Bolin. He felt so jealous.

“I don’t care,” his mother said. “You’re older. You need to be the responsible one.”

“Well, I don’t want to be the older one anymore!” Mako pulled away from his mother’s grip, upset and furious. He tried to run away but his mother caught him again by his shoulders, pushed him against the wall.

A strange feeling came over Mako in that moment. His anger had felt so strong, and part of him still wanted to fight, but being pinned like that seemed to open up this stillness in him. He realized he didn’t want to escape, was glad his mother had trapped him.

“Mako, Bolin’s going to be your brother forever, do you understand that?” his mother said. “One day your father and I won’t be around. And if you’re mean to him, Bolin will grow up being mean to you and you’ll be all alone. Do you understand?”

Mako’s mouth was dry. His father was staring at him in shock, and Mako felt scared. “I … I understand, ma’am.”

He was ordered to apologize to Bolin and forbidden from playing with the ball for the rest of the day.

“Well,” Mako’s mother said a few hours later as she made dinner with his father. “I guess if I can’t get a girl Mako will still be a Yang like me, spirits help us.”

“Really?” his father asked, still staring at Mako. “I’m not so sure …”

It was the first time Mako had heard the word. When he was old enough to understand what it meant his parents were long gone. In those days finding something to eat or a warm and dry place to sleep was more important than trying to mate, although both of them had been curious in their own way. Occasionally Mako would wonder, but he didn’t start to get really nervous about it until Bolin had his first heat at thirteen and he still hadn’t presented.

“Well, who do you like better?” Bolin asked when Mako brought this up to him – he didn’t like burdening Bolin with his own worries but he didn’t know what else to do. “Yangs or Yins?”

“I don’t know. Yins, maybe?” Mako said. “Most of the triad guys are Yangs and they’re real jerks. And girl Yins are pretty.”

But even he couldn’t make that sound convincing. So when Bolin went into heat again a few weeks later and checked into a safehouse, Mako took some of his own money and ducked into a dingy, cramped store deep in the heart of Red Monsoon territory. (He might have had an alliance with the Triple Threats, and there were similar stores in that part of the city, but Mako was at that age where a fight with a rival gang seemed less dangerous than his own gang’s mockery.) Mako had gone to the store with a thrill in his heart, felt like an adult in a way that was salacious and exciting. But when he was actually there, flipping through the magazines of posed and open-mouthed Yins and Yangs, he just felt awkward and deflated.

When he got back home (at that point the basement of an abandoned building that would be demolished a month later) Mako took off his clothes and laid out the magazine. He studied every page: the over-muscled Yangs, the slimmer but fit Yins, the couplings that mixed men and women of both stripes. Mako stroked himself as he looked, tried to put himself in the place of the men in the pairings, to imagine it was his knot growing inside that young Yin man or that the Yang woman in the other photo was pinning him to the ground.

In the coming months until the magazine was somehow lost, Mako had ended up memorizing every picture, but he still couldn’t remember which one had pushed him over the edge that first time. When it was over he laid on the ground, exhausted and content. It was only when he’d moved his leg a certain way that he felt the trickling dampness leak out of him. He’d thought it was sweat at first, but when he touched there, pushed inside himself, he realized what had happened.

Mako had been hopeful enough to consider he might still be a Yin, just one that hadn’t gone into heat yet, but that hope wasn’t able to sustain him when Bolin finally came home. His younger brother had hugged him, told him that this was actually a great thing and that now he knew what he was. Yet all Mako could think was that he actually recognized Bolin’s smell, and that he probably should have figured out what that meant months ago.

Mako hadn’t been able to find anyone he knew at the docks. His memories made him think of the old brothels and stores, so he headed in that direction, unheeding of the heavy footsteps which followed him at a distance.

~*~*~

When the meditation class was over, Bolin sat in one of the isolation cells in the men’s dormitory, the suppressant syringe in his hand, trying to figure out what to do.

He did like it here. The cell was sparse but large and open, with three interlocking windows shaped like the symbol for the Air Nomads – big enough to let a lot of sunlight or moonlight in but with openings that wouldn’t allow any outside entry. Pabu was resting by Bolin’s thigh, occasionally squeaked and nudged him. Bolin pet his head and back.

The class had been … well, different. Bolin had been surprised by how many people were there. While the women’s changing room off the meditation hall was far more packed, several men had also come: the well-dressed businessmen removing their scarves, the even more well-dressed trophy husbands of businessmen who smoothed out their tailored suits on a wooden hanger before changing into the meditation robes, older men that jammed their work uniforms into cubby holes and brought to Bolin’s mind the dim memories of his father. After a moment of surprise, Bolin even recognized a player on a rival pro-bending team who gave him a nod and a thumbs-up.

And then there were the weirdoes.

“Suppressants are the Yang’s poison,” said the guy sitting next to Bolin. He was light-skinned and golden-eyed; rail thin with a gray, ratted, braided ponytail that went down to his back; and he had eschewed the traditional tunics and robes for a loincloth that showed off his numerous tattoos and piercings on his withered body. “That stuff rots your ovaries, man. You know what’s in it? Do you?”

“Well, no,” Bolin said, tapping his fingers together, “but …”

“Trick question! You don’t! And you know why? Because it’s poison!” the guy nodded. “It just puts yuans in the big Yangs’ pockets. They say it’s so you can keep going to work and make more money. But then you’ve got to pay to use them! How’s that making money, man? It’s all a system of control, man. You got to wake up!”

“Oh, well, I … hey! I think I see my … friend, or something…” Bolin said, and made a beeline for the final empty spot right in front of Pema.

It really wasn’t so bad after that, though. Pema … well, Bolin didn’t exactly understand everything she said but she seemed to make a lot more sense than that guy. And all that stuff about being a life source and overcoming your body’s urges now so you could feel more in control when you enjoyed them later down the line made him feel pretty good. Bolin also really liked meditating. Somehow clearing his mind was surprisingly easy.

On the other hand, the suppressants had worked out for him for years … should he really be trying to mess with that?

Bolin knew the burden that his heats had created for both him and his brother. He still remembered the first time he’d gone into heat. He’d tried to laugh off how scared he felt when he came to Mako in the middle of the night, his underpants and pants soaked through. After the first shock, Mako was good to him. They’d searched for the safehouse together, Bolin wrapping an old blanket around himself in an attempt to muffle the smell as Mako walked close at his side, a flame lit in his hand and ready to pounce.

Bolin had thought he could relax after he got into the safehouse, but the place was a nightmare. Most of the staff had gone home for the night. He was locked in the last room available – if you could call it that. It was actually one half of a room that had been converted into two, left no room for anything but the bed and foot of floorspace to walk along if you shuffled to the side. He could hear the other Yins’ moans and grunts on the other sides of the walls. There were toys under the bed, but they were used and sticky and despite how needy and miserable he felt Bolin couldn’t bring himself to touch them. He just crawled onto the stained bedspread, the blanked wrapped around him. Sometimes he tried to stroke himself or dig his fingers inside himself, but for most of that first time he just curled up in a ball, trying and failing to control his sobbing until he fell asleep from exhaustion.

“Please let me go on suppressants, Mako,” Bolin was literally on his knees, his hands clasped together in front of Mako. “Please, can we buy them? Please, please, please!”

Mako hadn’t refused so much as bargained. He told Bolin repeatedly that a shot cost at least a week’s worth of meals for the both of them. They tried a few different safehouses, a couple of which were a little better but others which were just as bad and one that was even worse. But as Bolin came back after every heat miserable the fight slowly went out of Mako. He bought the shots for Bolin a few times, but they both ended up eating a lot less – especially Mako, who sometimes completely skipped meals – whenever they did. Eventually Bolin had to agree that one day of misery for him made more sense than weeks of hunger for both of them. He went back to the safehouse.

Then, one day after Bolin had left a safehouse, Mako greeted him with a huge hug and bags full of stuff. He’d come into some money, spent all of it on stuff for them: food, new clothes, a year’s supply of suppressants, even a few treats. They’d run into Toza before the suppressants had run out, and Bolin had been on them ever since.

Why hadn’t he asked that day how Mako got the money? Bolin wondered. Maybe Bolin had just enjoyed being so amazed, being happy that his older brother had taken care of everything once again.

Still, it would have been nice to make it easier on both of them back them, make it easier on himself in the future.

“What I need is a nice Yang girl, you know?” Bolin said to Pabu. “No need to worry about suppressants or safehouses or meditating – just her and me, making love for hours and hours. That’s what I need.”

Pabu trilled and cocked his head.

“Well, I guess a guy would be okay too if they’re, y’know, pretty. Oh! And an in-between would be nice, too. It’s not really the knot I’m after. Just someone to hug and kiss and hold me and …” Bolin sighed deeply and hung his head. “I’m so lonely.”

The fire ferret hopped onto Bolin’s lap, licked his hand in an attempt to soothe him. Bolin picked up the syringe again. A familiar ache rose in his heart. He tried not to think of Korra but she came to mind anyway.

“You know, Pabu. I didn’t think about this before, but, I think Korra needs me right now, right? We’re going up against those sexy twins and that Water Tribe guy but not really who can bend a rock with his hands but not really. I can’t take off to meditate, right? Yeah, I have a responsibility.”

Pabu didn’t respond, had seemed to fall asleep on Bolin’s lap. Bolin smiled and gently picked up the furry little animal, placed him beside him on the cot. Then he undid his belt and lifted up his shirt. As always, he winced a bit as the needle went in, then pushed in the plunger.

Bolin sighed and tossed the syringe in the trash can in the cell, relieved now that he had made a decision. He stood up and stretched, walked a few steps, and fell to his knees with a yell before he reached the door.

Bolin’s insides were churning. No, not churning, it felt like his guts were trying to strangle each other. He clutched onto his stomach. He was sweating. For a minute he thought he was going to throw up, but then he felt the familiar liquid gushing out of him. It soaked straight through his clothes, dripping onto the floor.

His eyes widened. Had he been too late? Should he have taken the suppressant earlier? But he knew his own cycle at this point. His heat had never come on this quickly, this strong.

Bolin crawled over to the bed, trying to reach Pabu. Why oh why hadn’t he thought to bring a toy? Hopefully nobody would be around and he could just run back to his room and search his bags before coming back here. “Come on, boy,” Bolin scooped Pabu into his arms, tried to force himself to his feet.

The door creaked open behind him. No! He hadn’t locked the door. “Taken! This room’s taken. Don’t come in here!” Bolin yelled as he turned around.

But when he saw who was there, Bolin realized how useless his plea had been.

~*~*~

Many miles to the north in a mansion on the hill, Asami Sato stepped out of her father’s study and felt an ice-encased hand grip around her neck, pull her close. Asami looked up to see a sharp icicle looming over her eye. Lips pressed against her ear, and the stomach-churning smell of digested food filled her nose as a voice behind her spoke.

“It’s just you and me here, Princess. Don’t try to scream.”

Closer and to the south, Mako had heard the steps behind him. He took turn after turn, trying to shake his tracker, then broke into a run but the booming steps raced after him. It had been years since Mako had run the streets in this part of town and he made a mistake, darted into a dead-ended alley. Cornered, Mako turned around, his fists raised. Korra hadn’t exaggerated how huge the man was, how vicious he looked.

“The Avatar’s pet pervert. You gave me a nice chase, my prey, but this is where it ends.”

And in the isolation cell on Air Temple Island, the young, dark-skinned woman pulled a full syringe out of her stolen Air Acolyte robes.

“I’m sorry. Was this yours?”

Bolin’s face went pale with fear as she let the syringe fall to the floor, crushed it with her boot.

End Part Six.


	7. Chapter 7

~*~*~

Tucked into one of the rooms adjacent to the main rotunda of the Republic City University Library, the Avatar Studies Collection was more of a miniature museum. It wasn’t the only one of its kind – Ba Sing Se’s was bigger – but its artifacts were frequently exchanged with the others across the globe. The short, bespectacled Yin man who led Korra to the collection described this to her breathlessly, peppered any pauses with personal questions about her that elicited an awed gasp and furious scribbling on his notebook no matter how banal her response. It annoyed Korra, yet when the Yin man led her inside, it became impossible to listen to a word he said.

Objects – some very large, others as tiny as a Yuan coin – lined walls and rested in glass-encased displays. While she’d seen some of the items in books – Roku’s crown, Kuruk’s wolf helmet, the Mechanist’s glider for Avatar Aang – it was different seeing them in person. A few years ago she’d found a box of her old toys in the White Lotus compound and been flooded with memories of her childhood. Despite being without the memories she associated with these artifacts, the feeling of nostalgia in Korra’s heart was both similar and overwhelming. As she stared at her gold-tinted reflection in Kyoshi’s fans, she felt deeply as if something had been lost.

“This is the one item we have of Kyung’s,” the librarian had put on white gloves, had several wooden beads cupped in his hand. “These are the remnants of a bracelet his Yin gave to him. It’s not much. We have very little of the early Avatars. But perhaps it can be helpful to you, Avatar Korra.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Korra said with a nod.

The Library had a strict rule about not allowing any of the items to leave the grounds, even for the current Avatar. As a compromise, the librarian took Korra to a reading room that could be locked from the inside. Well, it beat being stuck in a metal box, Korra thought as she sat cross-legged on the floor and closed her eyes. As per her bargain with the librarian, Korra waited until that moment to pull the cloth away, to let the smooth wood come in contact with her skin.

Korra began by trying to clear her mind, to make herself an empty vessel which Kyung could enter and fill. She thought of the type of person Kyung might have been, wondered what Mako was thinking when Kyung had kissed him, remembered the vision Kyung had initially sent her and dreamed of the day she could truly take Mako in her arms and …

Wait, no, that wasn’t right. Her mind needed to be clear. She squeezed the beads, trying to force herself to concentrate. Then she found herself thinking about the fight she’d witnessed, the dust in her eyes and the lightning in her hands and the blood running from her nose. Korra stopped herself once more, frustrated. But then she wondered if perhaps she was on the right track.

When Korra opened her eyes again, Kyung sat in front of her.

A chill ran through Korra’s body. When she’d met Avatar Aang, she’d been overcome with a feeling of calmness, of peace. But with Kyung she overwhelmingly felt his strength, his fierce pride.

“He-Hello,” Korra said.

Kyung’s mouth curled upwards into a smile that had the hint of a sneer. “Do you fear me, Avatar Korra? Pity. You’re more like me than the last one. He didn’t care much for me.”

Korra took a deep breath. “Avatar Kyung, what are you trying to tell me? I’ve heard your story before. What do you want me to learn?”

“Ahh, my story,” Kyung nodded. “Do you ever wonder what your legend will be, Korra? Do you ask what history shall say of you when they’ve put your body on the funeral pyre and picked over your personal effects like lion-vultures? Do you dream of what a young, scared earthbender will one day ask you?”

“I …” Korra gulped. “I try not to think about that.”

“Probably for the best,” Kyung was no longer smiling, raised up his head as he spoke. “Close your eyes.”

~*~*~

Asami stared up at the icicle. A drop of water was clinging to the end of its point. The drop fell into her eye, made her blink.

“Here’s how it works, Princess,” Tukiyo purred. “We’re going to walk outside together. We’re going to get into a cab I’ve got waiting not too far from here. Then you’re going to see my boss again. I’m sure you’re so eager to catch up, am I right?”

“Tukiyo,” Asami said, her voice even but shaky as her captor gripped her tighter. “You don’t want to do—”

Asami slapped Tukiyo’s hand away before she finished the sentence, then used the elbow of her other arm to jab into Tukiyo’s side. The young woman released her, and Asami ran.

“Don’t even try it!” Tukiyo called after her. She was still recovering, her un-iced hand gripping onto her abdomen. “My sister’s right around the corner.”

Asami stopped in her tracks, looked around for a minute. Then she frowned at Tukiyo. “No, she’s not!”

“Uh-huh! She’ll earthbend you to bits.”

“You just said, ‘It’s just you and me here, Princess. Don’t try to scream.’”

Tukiyo stared at Asami, then winced. “Oh … Yeah, I guess that was an error in judgment, huh?”

Asami broke into a run again. She could figure out later how Tukiyo got in her home. Right now she just needed her glove. She turned the corner of the main hallway to the wing leading to her room, ducked as she heard the flow of water. It splashed just over her head, raining droplets onto her hair.

A loud boom reverberated through Asami’s bedroom as she slammed open the door. She dove onto her bed, rolled across it as she tried to reach the far side with her nightstand. A stream of water whipped across the bed in her wake, slicing the bedspread in half. Asami opened the nightstand and pulled out the glove, knocking the nightstand over as she pulled it on.

Asami turned to face Tukiyo, fists raised in front of her. The waterbender smirked, then rushed to attack. Asami grunted as she blocked the arm coming down on her, pushing the ice-encased hand with her sparking glove.

“Still haven’t given up Daddy’s toys, huh?” Tukiyo thrust forward, knocking hard against Asami’s block but not enough to make her step back. “Maybe the maid who sold you out was right to think you were an Equalist. Walks like a turtle-duck talks like a turtle-duck?”

Shoot, Asami thought. She pushed back harder, breaking the hold and knocking Tukiyo several feet back. Tukiyo’s red mouth curled into a cruel smile despite that.

“But from what the underworld tells me Big Daddy Sato hasn’t been too happy with his little Princess. You just can’t win, can ya babe?”

“Oh, shut up and fight me!” Asami pulled her bent arm far back before throwing a hard, sparking punch toward Tukiyo.

The waterbender dropped to the floor. She lobbed a ball of water up at Asami, striking her in the chin. Asami fell, but as Tukiyo dove toward her Asami kicked up her leg, tossed Tukiyo flat on her back above her.

Asami rushed out of her room, back into her father’s office. She picked up the telephone’s earpiece, hoping to call the police, but heard no dial tone on the other end.

Asami growled and slammed down the phone. Now what was she going to do?

Tukiyo threw open the doors and Asami ducked, turning the desk over as water splashed against it. Asami then popped up over her makeshift cover, sent an electric jolt flying toward Tukiyo. It missed. Tukiyo made a movement with her arms, something that brought to Asami’s mind a vision of Korra in the pro-bending arena. Asami knocked over the desk and rushed at Tukiyo, knocking her to the ground as the water splashed uselessly above Asami’s head.

And Dad said nothing would come of watching those games, Asami thought with a smile. She pressed her hand against Tukiyo’s shoulder, shocking the girl.

Tukiyo reacted like a fire ferret being forced in water. She roared in pain, flailed her limbs. Then she grabbed onto Asami’s hair, yanked down and crashed Asami’s nose against her forehead.

“Ugh!” Asami reeled back, grasping onto her aching, bleeding nose as Tukiyo broke free.

Tukiyo stood up on shaky legs, her body almost swooning as she stepped back. “Heh, you’re … you’re not so pretty now, Princess.” Tukiyo almost tripped, but then broke into a run out of the office and down the mansion’s main staircase. Asami wiped the blood from her nose and chased after her.

~*~*~

When practitioners, athletes, historians – those who made it their business to track this sort of thing – spoke about firebending as an artform, the general consensus was that it just wasn’t as powerful as it used to be. Different theories abounded, which Mako sometimes got wind of through a book or magazine: spiritual blowback from the Fire Nation’s defeat, the more earthly collective guilt of the Hundred Years’ War and images of Fire Lord Zuko’s half-burnt face, the often lamented “dumbing down” of the art through pro-bending.

But to Mako, it was all much simpler than that. Any form of bending could be deadly. Water drowns. Earth crushes. Air suffocates and rips apart. If you didn’t bend with the aim of burning your opponent, you wouldn’t.

So perhaps he could have tapped into something deeper, created a blaze that would have destroyed Kilaun then and there, but Mako had been fighting for a long time, and was still used to battling ordinary men.

Mako struck first, hitting high before crouching down to send fiery sweeps of the leg in Kilaun’s direction. Kilaun dodged both, rushed at Mako like a bull and knocked him hard against the wall before he even had time to think of reacting.

How was he so fast? Mako wondered. He’d known lots of huge, tough Yangs, but they didn’t move like him.

Mako jabbed at the sides of Kilaun’s head. Kilaun’s wolf helmet protected him from the brunt of the burning fists, but he reared back and Mako went in for an uppercut. Kilaun snarled in rage and pain. Yet when Mako tried to sidestep away from him Kilaun caught him by the wrist, bent Mako’s arm behind his back and pressed him chest-first against the wall.

“You think you can scurry away from me that easily, street rat?”

Kilaun yanked on Mako’s arm, and Mako groaned. His bones felt like they could crack.He tried to twist away but Kilaun tightened his grip.

They were close enough that Kilaun’s scent filled Mako’s nose. It was messing with his head, telling Mako to fight and surrender in equal measure. Ugh, he could almost taste it. Kilaun dug his chin into Mako’s neck, took a loud sniff of his hair.

Fighting won out. “Get off of me!” Mako yelled. He stomped on Kilaun’s foot, wrenched out of Kilaun’s grasp. Mako’s arm was still throbbing with pain, but he sent a blast through it, knocked Kilaun back against the wall.

Mako tried to run but Kilaun stepped in front of the mouth of the alley again and blocked his way. Kilaun’s brown eyes were dark beneath the wolf helmet’s teeth. Then he laughed again.

“That excited you, didn’t it, boy?” Kilaun leered. “The Avatar’s done herself a disservice by not forcing herself on you. I think you’d like it.”

Mako growled, hoping that the embarrassing warmth in his cheeks wasn’t showing on his face. “You don’t know what I’d like, you sick creep.”

“Oh no?” Kilaun stepped closer, his shoulders hunched up near his ears and his mouth strained into an awful grin that showed all his teeth. “It’s my business to know what people like, my passion to know what people crave. You think I can’t crack you open like a nut? I’ll have you begging for you it.”

“I’d like to see you try!” Mako shot a bolt of lightning in Kilaun’s direction. Kilaun dodged, made another rush for Mako, but this time Mako ran toward the back of the alley. Mako strained as he jumped against the wall and backflipped off it, sending a blast down toward Kilaun as he sailed over his head.

Mako ran out of the alley. As he ran he wondered how he hadn’t noticed Kilaun following him before. His footsteps seemed uncomfortably loud, and he was gaining so fast. And the place they were in was a wasteland at this time of day. Nobody was around, nobody would ever hear them. Ugh, how could he have made a mistake like this?

“Keep running, little pervert,” Kilaun growled. “I’ll catch up eventually. I’ve got your scent now. I can find you wherever you are.”

In his heart, Mako knew that wasn’t true. Humans weren’t polar bear-dogs or shirshues. The best Yangs could track – supposedly Prince Zuko was able to follow Avatar Aang for long stretches at a time – but the scent of a Yin usually didn’t linger for very long, and could easily be muffled by water or a high wind. And yet Kilaun had such power, such strength, such a mind-blowingly strong scent …

What’s wrong with you? Mako thought. His skin was crawling. Even though Mako usually couldn’t smell anyone who wasn’t a foot away from him Kilaun’s scent felt like it was choking him.

You’re braver than this, he told himself. Kilaun’s tough but he’s not invincible. He’s just a Yang. Just a man.

But he beat Korra. But Amon beat him and they both stopped Amon …

The steps were coming closer. I need to keep a distance, Mako reminded himself. As long as he’s not close he can’t hurt me.

He just needed to think of something, and needed to think of it quick.

~*~*~

“What … What did you do to me?”

It was so hard for Bolin to get the words out, to focus. When he first saw Tukiko and Tukiyo, he thought they were pretty, maybe not as pretty as Asami and definitely not as pretty as Korra but attractive and sexy all the same. … Not that you were really supposed to notice that sort of thing in a dangerous sex trafficker preying on the lives of sweet innocent children. No, definitely not. But looking at Tukiko right now it was hard not to imagine crawling toward her and burying his face in the folds of those Air Nomad robes that she pulled around her curves way tighter than any of the female acolytes on the island and … 

No, stop it! Bolin chided himself. She’s a bad guy. Very bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Tukiko laughed and stepped closer to Bolin. He crawled backwards, told himself that he had to get on his feet.

“Oh, Bolin, you are quite fetching when you try to think,” Tukiko said. She reached below her sash, pulled the robe beneath it apart and down her shoulders. Bolin didn’t realize he’d been staring until Tukiko swept down on top of him, ran her hands around his waist and kissed him.

When it first happened Bolin opened his mouth, but when he felt Tukiko’s tongue inside his he pushed her back.

“Stop it!” he yelled. “What was in that syringe?”

Tukiko shrugged – a big, infuriatingly dramatic shrug with her arms open and a wide smile on her face. “Do I look like a scientist? I don’t know what it is. I just know the results. And I think you’d like them if you just relax.”

“No!” Bolin wobbled as he struggled to his feet. “No, I won’t relax. That stuff brought … That stuff brought on my … my heat. And …”

He couldn’t continue. Bolin’s mind was still foggy. Something important was missing something that itched at the back of his brain that he needed to remember if only he could stop his body from begging and pleading and screaming for sex.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Bolin,” Tukiko sneered as she stood up, rested her hands on her hips. “Either you and Shuchun can come along back to our brothel and let Kilaun, my sister and me ease that delicious craving of yours, or we can fight until I pound you into the ground and drag you back to – ”

“Shuchun!” Bolin’s eyes widened. He pointed angrily at Tukiko. “You did this to Shuchun! That stuff you put in the syringe was what brought on Shuchun’s heat.”

“What? Oh. That. You morons hadn’t figured that out yet? Guess the Avatar was too busy trying to find her way into your older brother’s pants to really pay attention to the girl. Typical of Yangs to pursue and neglect, eh? Well,” Tukiko reached into the sash of her robe, “You’re all in for a nasty shock.”

Tukiko jutted her arm forward, and Bolin knew the rocks were coming. He jabbed both his arms up around his head, deflecting most of them, then went in for a grapple. Tukiko didn’t resist the way Bolin had expected she might, and the two opponents fell together into the hallway.

Tukiko licked her lips and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Mmm … finding it hard to resist?” 

“Gah!” Bolin tried to wrench himself away but Tukiko grabbed onto the front of his shirt, pulled him closer.

Those red lips brushed against his again. Tukiko felt so warm, gripped her legs around his waist with such strength. When she kissed him again – holding his head in place – it was with a hard, cold precision, the kiss of a woman used to kissing for a purpose, for a certain reaction.

Bolin whined. Why was it working so well? His body felt hot and his groin was throbbing and his mind kept jumping to thoughts of being pinned and mounted again and again. What was in that thing? He’d never reacted this way. Especially not without a …

Bolin pushed Tukiko away. “You’re an in-between, aren’t you?”

Tukiko raised an eyebrow, then frowned. 

“I can’t smell you that well,” Bolin pressed on. “And you’re acting like you want me now but Korra said you hit on her too.”

Tukiko rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m a pervert. My sister is too. You really think a Yang supremacist like Kilaun would put Yins in any position of authority? What’s your point?”

Bolin saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and then he smiled. “Nothing. I don’t have a point. It’s just weird to think you’re, you know, a sworn enemy ready to seduce and destroy me and you could have grown up like my brother.”

Tukiko frowned. Then a flash of red fur pounced on her face, clawing and hissing. Bolin pushed Tukiko away, yelled back “Come on, Pabu!” as he ran down the hall, the fire ferret bounding close after him.

Tukiko was on her feet soon enough, though. Bolin needed to get outside. He knew it was a risk – he’d have more earth to bend out on the island but so would she. But he needed some sort of help, needed to find Tenzin or the airbender kids or someone.

Because he wasn’t sure he could hold out much longer. 

~*~*~

Korra stood with Avatar Kyung, watching him sleep in one of his memories. Kyung was in a simple but pretty room, neat and clean with decorative masks on the wall. Curtains hung from the posts of his bed, which was set into the wall. Monk Anil slept with him, in fact Kyung lay on top of him, a smile on his face as he rested his head on Anil’s chest.

“You look so peaceful with him,” Korra said, trying not to be jealous. “But where are you? This doesn’t look like the Southern Air Temple.”

“It’s a concubine’s room in the palace of the Three Yang Kings,” Kyung said. “This is a few weeks after the last vision I showed you. We’d sent the kings in chains back to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se. Anil and I were working with some of the elder Yins, trying to help them create a more balanced society with some of the older, banished Yang children who had come back. We made amazing progress, but … well, you’ll see.”

A door creaked open. A young Yin woman stepped inside, a large dagger in her hand. She was light skinned with brown hair tied in a loose bun, and Korra thought she might have been pretty once but sadness had taken her over, turning the whites of her eyes red and her cheeks sunken and hollow.

The Yin woman raised the knife above her head, gripping it by the handle with two hands, as she approached the sleeping Avatar. She brought the knife down.

Avatar Kyung awoke with a start, his eyes shining. He thrust out his hand, airbending the woman back against the wall and scattering her knife along the floor.

Kyung came out of the Avatar state. As he did, a look of surprise overtook his face. “Lijuan?”

“Usurper!” Lijuan yelled. She dove toward the knife.

But Anil had woken up, airbent the knife toward him and picked it up. Kyung sprinted toward Lijuan, caught her wrist in his hand.

“What are you doing?” Kyung growled. “Zeitan and her brothers are gone. You don’t have to fight for them.”

Lijuan sobbed. “Fight for them? I would die for them! They were my kings. Zeitan was the love of my life.”

“The love of your life?” Even to Korra, Kyung was intimidating, but his disgusted frown made him look uncharacteristically taken aback and confused. “When I liberated this city-state she had you chained to a wall. She banished your Yang brothers. She took you to mate and she was your Aunt.”

“You don’t understand our ways!” Lijuan screamed, tried to wrench away.

“My child,” Anil approached Lijuan, laid his hand on her shoulder. “Yins don’t have to live the way you did. I know Zeitan may have been affectionate toward you at times, and you may have mistaken that affection for love. But there’s a greater type of love out there, I swear this to you.”

“Shut up!” Lijuan tore away from Kyung at last, clawed at Anil’s chest until she had the knife back in her hands.

Kyung growled and grabbed onto the back of Lijuan’s dress, pulling her away from his Yin. Tears were brimming in her eyes. She looked at the both of them before breaking into a run. Anil raced after her. Kyung stared after him, seemingly not sure what to do, but then followed.

“Anil believed in everyone,” Kyung said to Korra, his voice thick with sadness. “He raised me up and saved me from the rot in my soul. I hated that he had to see what happened next.”

When Korra looked back at the vision Lijuan stood in the center of a square, on a raised stone platform that Korra had assumed once held a statue, her arms raised up above her head. Several of the village Yins had gathered around her.

“These men lie to you,” Lijuan said. “Yin cannot live without Yang any more than the moon can shine without the sun. They say they’re letting us rule our lives, but they took away our rulers, mean to destroy our culture and re-cast it in their own image.”

“That’s not true!” Anil begged. “Lijuan, we just want the Yins here to be self-sufficient. We’ll leave as soon as that’s done, we promise. We just want to make your lives better.”

The crowd booed in response. A few people threw rotten food at Anil, which he didn’t bother to air-swat away. Incensed, Kyung stepped in front of his Yin.

“Stop it!” Kyung roared. “You didn’t have a culture under the Three Yang Kings. You had a brainwashing cult of personality that used you.”

“Liar!” yelled someone in the crowd.

“Vicious, brutal Avatar!”

“Kyung the Furious!”

“Quiet!” Anil yelled, airbending around him as he did. “I know this is a time of adjustment. I know you’re hurting, but I promise you, if you just let us help you we will make you a better world, a kinder and more enlightened world.”

“A world without our Yangs is not a better world,” Lijuan said, and she raised the knife to her breast.

Korra looked away from the last part of the vision, although she still heard the screams.

“I couldn’t watch either,” Kyung said. “But Anil saw every minute.”

“That … that must have been awful,” Korra whispered.

Kyung sighed deeply. “She wasn’t the only one.”

Korra felt her heart drop into her stomach. “What? More people killed themselves over those monsters?”

“Some,” Kyung nodded. “Although most just tried to stir rebellion. For years groups would meet and pray that the Three Yang Kings – these brutes who had stolen their children and worked them to death – would return. For years fought them, tried to reason with them. It took 20 years before these rebellions died, and even then the whispers continued.”

Korra hung her head. “There are some Equalists who still meet too.”

“So many of us have fought wars, lost friends and loves and our own lives through them,” Kyung shook his head. “Even then winning a war is the easy part. It’s winning their hearts where the struggle really lies. The path isn’t as clear, and the victories are not as decisive.

“I … I was not the most patient Avatar,” Kyung said, and his expression had turned very sad. “Not the most understanding. Throughout my time on earth I struggled … not so much with my anger, despite my legend and my awful deeds, but with my cynicism. To me the world seemed black and ugly, and sometimes it still did in times like those. Anil said being the Avatar meant I had light and peace inside me, but I always wondered, if that was true, why was I so filled with hate? Why was that light and peace so far from me, when it had been so close to the Avatars who had come before? But there’s always a bit of darkness in the light, of Yin in the Yang. Perhaps even the spirit of light wants revenge.”

Korra gulped. A worry had seized her stomach. Everything felt very dark.

“Korra,” Kyung’s spirit form gripped onto her shoulders. “Your friends are in grave danger.”

Kyung pointed out in the distance. Korra followed his gaze, and saw everything all at once.

~*~*~

Asami had expected Tukiyo to run straight outside, maybe down the steps leading to the mansion or somewhere else that would lead her to this cab she supposedly kept waiting. Instead Tukiyo headed to the back of the house, leading Asami through the kitchen (where Asami tried to throw cooking pans at Tukiyo that ended up being swatted away via waterbending. She also saw the empty pot but chose not to say anything). When they got outside, into the open fields that lead to the workshop and the racetrack, Tukiyo ran toward the garage.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Asami ran faster, sprinting like she was in a relay race at school: arms swinging high, dirt kicking up behind her boot heels and her skirt flying around her.

Tukiyo looked far less graceful. She’d gathered up her skirts between her legs and in front of her, almost waddled with her legs wide out at her sides. Asami might have laughed if the circumstances were different. Tukiyo froze the lock on the door, cracked it open with a kick and barged in.

She was already on a motorcycle when Asami got to the garage, her breath thick and adrenaline pumping through her body. Tukiyo snickered and pressed a few buttons on the motorcycle. Then, when the motorcycle failed to turn, she pressed a few more and shrieked as she drove the bike straight into the rack of them.

Asami winced as the bikes fell down in a slow, loud, reverberating domino. She could barely believe this was all happening. “Tukiyo, look, if you get off the bike right now I won’t …”

Tukiyo screeched again in fear as the bike backed up. Then she revved the engine and screamed as the motorcycle zoomed out of the garage, its front wheel three feet off the ground.

Asami sighed deeply and picked up a helmet resting on one of the standing bikes. “I hope I’m not sorry for this later,” she said to herself as she snapped it on her head. She stepped a leg over the seat of a motorcycle and felt it roar to life between her thighs.

Tukiyo’s stolen bike was bounding down the hillside, airborne and on the ground moment after moment. She shrieked with every lurch. Asami had ridden this track before though, knew when to raise herself up and down on the bike.

Still, it was hard to gain any ground on Tukiyo without hurting herself until they reached the open gates in front of the mansion. (Kiew had probably been responsible for that, too, Asami thought bitterly.) Tukiyo drove out onto the streets, still screaming as she swerved wide, sometimes riding up on the sidewalk, to avoid the honking automobiles.

When Tukiyo reached a bit of open road, Asami hit the gas and caught up to her, rode alongside her. Asami feared for her life, wasn’t even sure if this would work, but she couldn’t get the image of that empty, dirty pot out of her head.

“Tukiyo!”

The girl screamed in response. “I can’t stop it!”

Asami reached out to her. “Give me your hand.”

Tukiyo shook her head so hard her hair loops whipped across her face. There were tears in her eyes.

“Tukiyo, I promise I won’t turn you in,” Asami said, stretching out her hand further. They were going so, so fast. “You or your sister. Just give me your hand, please.”

Tukiyo stared back at her for a moment, and Asami could see something in that stare resembling trust, something resembling hope.

Then Tukiyo smirked and popped open her skein.

The water slapped across Asami’s face, turned into a steady jet. She tried to hold onto the bike for a split second and ended up feeling herself spinning with it. When Asami let go she hit the ground hard, rolling with the water hosing her until she hit a wall. Before everything went dark, she saw Tukiyo slowly come to a stop and kill the engine, her face calm and triumphant.

~*~*~

The Satomobile parked alongside of the road – the first in several blocks – gave Mako the idea of getting to higher ground. He used a bit of firebending to launch himself to the Satomobile’s roof, spun around and shot off a blast of lightning at Kilaun.

The bolt struck Kilaun in the stomach. For a moment the big man fell to his feet, static crackling between his dreadlocks and smoke rising from the spot on his vest where Mako had hit him. Kilaun snarled as he picked himself back up, the blue light still sparking around him. Then he rushed to the car, lifting it up and tipping it over.

Mako tried to jump when he realized what was happening, but something went wrong. He was never sure what, even days after. Maybe part of his shoe had gotten caught or he’d misjudged a distance or he tripped on the landing, but when he hit the ground on his hands and knees, when he tried to get up, his foot was trapped under the car.

Kilaun laughed as he approached the spot where Mako was caught. He gripped car’s roof. “It seems the rat’s set his own trap.” He picked it up.

Mako took the opportunity to wrench away, used his good leg to send a firey kick in Kilaun’s direction. It stunned Kilaun enough that Mako was able to get to his feet.

Pain shot through him with every step. The ankle didn’t seem broken but something was wrong. It didn’t seem possible but he swore he could feel it swelling.

“Walk it off,” Mako whispered, echoing what Toza had told him after so many practices, trying to pretend that was all this was. “Walk it off.”

Kilaun knocked into Mako hard, putting his shoulder and back into it. Mako gasped as he felt the air leave his lungs, as he rolled ahead for several paces.

He tasted dust, felt only pain. Those loud footsteps were coming close again and Mako struggled to get up, his legs collapsing in the process. Kilaun loomed over him, taking up most of Mako’s rapidly blurring vision. Yet – maybe out of some form of denial or mad hope – Mako found himself looking past Kilaun. Night was falling, turning the reddening sky dusky and the clouds dark. Beneath that the city: the buildings, the street lamps, the telephone poles.

“Resilient little street rat, aren’t we?”

Mako took a deep breath. Then he let out a cry and punched the air. Kilaun swerved to the side as the huge blast of fire billowed from Mako’s fist, but Mako expected that. The blast hit the telephone pole, burned straight through it so the pole toppled, wires snapping and crackling as it fell toward Kilaun.

Kilaun dropped to his knees as the pole hit him. Mako smiled for a moment, triumphant, but then he realized his foe didn’t keep going down. Kilaun gripped onto the pole, then slowly started to lift it, to stand on his feet. He raised it above his head, a wild look in his eyes and a wide, evil grin on his faceas he looked down at Mako. Then Kilaun roared and threw the telephone pole forward, and it landed at least five feet behind Mako.

Mako’s mouth had dropped open. “How …”

But Mako felt himself being lifted up by the shirtfront. Then the punches started coming, battering his stomach, his head. He coughed up something in the middle and saw blood splatter in Kilaun’s face and beard.

He must have swooned at one point, because when Mako realized what was happening again he was being lifted up off the ground. Kilaun had him by the back and knees. A mad laughter rang in his ears.

“You foolish pervert. You false messiah. You thought yourself superior,” Kilaun thrust Mako up into the air, high over his head. “But I have destroyed what you could not. I have defeated you. Do you see now, Amon? I have defeated you!”

Mako stared up at the sky again. The first few, bright stars were twinkling in the sky through the smog, the one constant as his vision alternately blurred and focused. “But that … doesn’t make any sense …” he whispered, and then the stars went dark.

~*~*~

The sky was blacker and the stars brighter over Air Temple Island, and Bolin felt a strange pain in his chest as he caught a glimpse of one of them through the boughs of the trees. He went back to listening for Tukiko’s footsteps, holding Pabu close to his body.

The isolation rooms were on the western part of the island, where the buildings and training areas started to end and the trees began. Bolin’s plan – not much of a plan but a plan nevertheless – was to hide behind the large tree he’d found and hope Tukiko would think he’d kept running in one direction, at which point he would bolt in an opposite direction when she passed.

It was driving him crazy to wait. Running and fighting had been enough to distract him from his heat but this period of rest – albeit a very stressful rest that involved expecting a sexy earthbender who was a pretty good kisser actually to pounce on him at any moment – brought out the hunger in him again.

The footsteps had come very close now. Bolin tried not to tremble as Tukiko passed the other side of the tree, walked a few steps past.

“Bolin,” she said, her back still turned from his tree. “I can smell you, you stupid idiot.”

He sprinted away as she spun around, bent up enough earth to knock over his tree. Ten-thousand five hundred and fifty one, he thought as it fell to the ground.

“Pabu,” he said to the fire ferret when he was clear. “Go get me help, okay buddy?”

The animal ran off as Bolin turned to face Tukiko. He might as well just try to fight like this, he thought. He put up a wall as Tukiko lobbed bits of earth at him, drew back as Tukiko kicked through it.

Bolin had learned from Toza how to handle a pro-bending duel: watch how your opponent fights in the ring at large, use it against them when you have to go one-on-one. Sometimes Tukiko would fight like a traditional earthbender, low stances and powerful movements. Then she’d throw in a jab like a probender. And she didn’t protect herself like either of them, didn’t have the stances. It was less a style than tricks she must have picked up. Or made up herself, perhaps, judging by the marble stuff.

Bolin tried to use Tukiko’s lack of stances against her, tried to hit her as she was gearing up for another move, before she had a chance to recover. He kept changing what he did, trying to use a different combination of punches and kicks every time. But Bolin was weak under the influence of the heat, and even if he got a good hit on Tukiko, which happened a few times, she’d respond with a volley of quick ones back when she did get on her feet or shook off the hit, raising up parts of the earth and throwing them at him in quick succession. Tukiko was slowly, but very surely, gaining ground.

And then there was no more ground to gain.

They had fought to the furthest part of the forest, to the cliffs dropping off into Yue Bay. Bolin was exhausted. He ached in several places where Tukiko had hit him. His limbs were shaking so hard he felt like he could collapse at any minute while the hunger gnawed deep inside him. But Tukiko didn’t look so hot either. Her robes had ripped in several places. Her hair had come half undone, the loops lying over her shoulders and the buns half-collapsed behind her head. They faced each other, chests heaving. Still, Bolin wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.

“Why do you do it, anyway?” Tukiko asked.

Bolin blinked. His head was starting to pound. “Do what?”

“Fight with the Avatar. It must chafe, I’m sure. She’s so strong, so beautiful. And here you are, looking the way you do, smelling the way you do, and she doesn’t want you at all. Why do you torture yourself, anyway? I’ve just offered you three people who would give you what you truly want.”

Bolin tightened his fists, shook his head. “No. There’s more to life than that. There’s love and there’s friendship and there’s justice and there’s peace. And so long as I’m Korra’s friend I’m going to help her fight for all of those things. I’m going to fight for what’s right!”

Tukiko threw back her head and laughed, a loud cackling crow that made her chest heave and her eyes water. “Please,” she said, still chuckling. “You know what all that garbage is? It’s a pretty sheen the powerful use to paint over the muck they’ve created, a lovely story to let the weak sleep at night. Do you know how many ‘good people’ – businessmen, politicians, leaders – have preached love and peace and goodness and then emptied their pockets at my bed to cheat on their loved ones, to batter my sister and me until they came?”

Bolin winced, but Tukiko crossed her arms, turned up her nose. “But I don’t blame them, because humans crave two things: they crave sex, and they crave power. That’s what shapes the world. That’s what matters. And you feel that craving inside you now for those things. It’ll always be there, even after the drug works its way through you. No matter how hard you fight, no matter how much you struggle, no matter what you accomplish, in the end you’re always going to come back to yourself as you are now. In the end you’ll always be nothing but a wanton, easy, floozy little tramp!”

Rage coursed through Bolin. He yelled and stomped on the ground, raising up chunks of earth that he shot toward Tukiko. She dodged some, punched through a couple of others, then charged and smacked her own foot against the ground, creating a crag that hit Bolin in the stomach, sent him flying back through the air.

Everything seemed to slow down for a moment. Bolin felt the air at his back, felt himself falling in an arc, aware of the lack of earth beneath him. The salty smell of the bay was thick in his nose. Bolin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, prepared to let the water envelop him.

End Part Seven.


	8. Chapter 8

~*~*~

The motorcycle traveled through the backstreets of Republic City a leisurely pace, occasionally running over or a rock or bump in the road that shook the driver and its quarry. Tukiyo reached behind her and pet Asami’s back. She had pinned Asami’s arms to her sides and her hands together with ice, then laid Asami stomach-down over the motorcycle’s back seat, where she still lay, unconscious.

“You know, I’m more excited about this plan than I thought,” Tukiyo said, straightening her back as she put her hand back on the bike handle. “I wonder what it’ll be like when we’re all together. Heh-heh. You in Kilaun’s clutches, it’s like humiliating your father all over again.”

Tukiyo stared at the road ahead. It was dark enough that the firebenders had lit the streetlamps along the road and Councilman Sokka’s statue glowed in the distance.

“To be fair it’s not like I’m anything for my parents to be proud of,” Tukiyo said with a sad shrug. “At least your father got thrown in the slammer for being the intellectual genius of a dangerous and influential terrorist movement. My mom’s probably locked up in some drunk tank right about … AARGH!”

A big white body and very sharp teeth pounced in front of Tukiyo’s path. Tukiyo shrieked and made a hard left, sending the bike skidding toward Naga. She was almost at a 45-degree angle to the ground before she righted herself and barreled down a side alley.

Korra leaped off Naga and airbent herself in front of the bike. She stomped on the ground, catching the bike’s wheels with earthbending, then used an air punch to knock Tukiyo off the bike.

Korra picked up Asami and hoisted the young woman over her right shoulder, her strong arm holding Asami by the waist. Korra’s face was as hard as stone, locked in a determined frown. One down, two to go, Korra told herself, tried to keep thinking of what was happening in those terms.

One down, two to go.

Korra melted the ice around Asami, laid her down across Naga’s back. She then hoisted herself up onto the polar bear-dog, led Naga out in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center and readied to urge her to run.

“Hey!” Tukiyo darted in front of Naga, stretched out her arms as if to block the both of them. “I’m not finished with you yet! Fight me!”

Naga bent her head down low and growled.

“Get out of my way, Tukiyo,” Korra said.

“No!” Tukiyo balled her fists at her waist and stamped her foot. “This isn’t fair! How did you know where I was, anyway?”

Korra’s face twitched with impatience. “A past Avatar showed me a vision of you attacking Asami in her home. Naga knows what motorcycle smoke and Asami’s perfume smell like and we tracked you. Now get out of my way, you rookie bender, before I really get mad.”

Asami let out a low moan. As she woke up she looked around her, then gasped as she realized where she was and what was happening. She pushed herself up so that she was sitting upright in Naga’s saddle.

“Rookie? Hah!” Tukiko puffed out her chest, put her hands on her waist. “You know what I think?”

Korra’s frowned deepened. “No, Tukiyo. And frankly I don’t care at –”

“You’re the one who’s a rookie! You’re supposed to be one of the best waterbenders? Well, I think you stink! All you do is punch and punch like a common streetfighter. The only thing that makes you better than me is that you can bend all the elements, and you’re not even good at that because if you were you’d have learned airbending right away and wouldn’t be the stupid disgrace you are!”

Naga let out another low, rumbling growl but Korra didn’t say a word. She slid off Naga’s back, calmly walked in front of Tukiyo. Korra rolled her head, letting her neck crack twice.

Then Korra pushed her arms up, then forward. The gesture lifted the water from the fountain in front of the cultural center, and another movement of the arms back and forth across her chest gathered it in a circle around her. Korra then snapped her arms out on either side of her, broke the water into eight moving, flowing tentacles.

Tukiyo stepped back, struggled to smile. “Okay this … this was definitely an error in judgment.”

Korra moved quickly and the water tentacles gripped onto Tukiyo’s ankles and wrists. Tukiyo screamed as the tentacles lifted her up into the air. Korra made rapid swirls with her arms and the tentacles dunked Tukiyo into the fountain again and again.

Asami watched all this with wide eyes and an open mouth. She wasn’t sure if the tight feeling in the chest was awe or fear. Maybe both.

Korra drew a hacking and spitting Tukiyo from the water. She knocked Tukiyo against the base of the statue, hosed more water onto her that froze her in ice from shoulders to feet. Tukiyo was still coughing as Korra hopped back onto Naga, rode away.

“Wow,” Asami said, her voice breathy. “That was … that was incredible, Korra. If very violent. But shouldn’t we call the police and get them to pick her up?”

“Then get off Naga and do it yourself,” Korra snapped. “I’ve got more important things to do!”

“Hey! Don’t talk to me that way! What’s going on?”

The frown on Korra’s face softened a touch. She guessed she had to tell Asami, but she didn’t want to, didn’t want to make it all real.

“That vision I mentioned to Tukiyo?” Korra said. “It showed me Mako and Bolin too. The pack managed a simultaneous attack.”

“They’re fighting Tukiko?” Asami asked, the shock clear in her voice.

Korra shook her head. “Bolin was. Last I saw she was on the island. I’m hoping everyone who’s there, well … Anyway, Kilaun went after Mako himself.”

Asami didn’t say anything for a minute. “Wh-Where is he now?”

“I’m not sure,” Korra said. “It’s somewhere in the industrial district. When we see an overturned car and a downed telephone pole we’ll know we’re in the right place.”

Asami made a small noise, something that Korra could have envisioned as accompanying a nod. Korra felt Asami lean forward onto her back, wrap her arms around her waist. In a way, Korra wanted to push her off. She was scared enough, didn’t want to be reminded that Asami must be scared too. Yet Korra also liked the comfort of it all, laid one of her hands across where Asami’s met.

Korra kept it there as Naga raced through the streets. Korra and Naga had gotten good at avoiding the main roads, sticking to places where Naga would elicit only a surprised gasp by a passerby rather than stop traffic. But it still took them over a half-hour before they reached the industrial district. 

Naga stopped suddenly. She sniffed the air, then howled and took off to the south. She turned again down a block with lit streetlamps but no lights in the windows.

“What did you say about a downed telephone pole?” Asami asked.

Korra saw the overturned car a second later. “Look!” she said as Naga stopped. It was just like in her vision. Korra dismounted and ran toward the telephone pole, Asami close behind her.

Korra ran to the stalk of the pole, bent down and sniffed it. Ugh, she could still smell Kilaun on it. Korra growled and looked up ahead. “Naga! Come, girl. I need you to track something.”

Asami was still staring at the pole’s stump. She held up her arm bent at the elbow in front of it, moved her forearm down slowly, trying to envision the trajectory of the pole’s fall. “Um … how did the pole end up over there?”

“Kilaun threw it,” Korra said, her eyes still locked on Naga sniffing the pole.

Asami lowered her arm, shook her head. “Maybe the Equalists should have let him join.”

“No jokes now, Asami.”

“I’m not joking,” Asami said as she walked over to Korra and Naga. “I’m wondering if maybe we’ll need a mecha tank to knock him over. Or if that’ll be enough.”

Korra looked up at Asami, a sad pout on her face. Naga howled and pointed South.

“You got it, girl?” Korra climbed back on Naga, held out a hand to help Asami climb up. “Where is he? Where’s Mako, baby?”

Naga ran off in the direction of the scent, but her riders’ elation was short-lived. The scent stopped at the side of the road. When Korra investigated, she lit a flame in her hand and saw the skid-marks of a car, but when she followed those they led onto one of the main highways. Satomobiles raced past Korra’s vision, again and again and again.

The weight of everything that happened hit Korra all at once. She sat on the side of the road, head in her hands. A part of her tried to tell herself that she knew this could have happened, that Kilaun and the twins had such a headstart and she might have been too late to save any of them at all but … but …

Asami bent down in front of her, grabbed onto Korra’s wrists. “Korra? Korra, come on. Don’t freak out. We’ll find Mako. Maybe not today, but we’ll get the police involved or something. Or we can go back and get Tukiyo and have her tell us where he is.”

“It’s ...” Korra sniffled. “It’s not just Mako. It’s Bolin too. I … I thought he wasn’t dead. I still don’t feel like he’s dead. But I thought I had a chance to get Mako and now … and now … What if I’m wrong?”

“Korra,” Asami pulled Korra’s wrists away from her face. “What happened? What did you see?”

Korra gulped hard, then told Asami about Bolin.

~*~*~

They had entered the girls’ dormitories looking for their mother and Rohan. Jinora had been the first of the three of them to hear the screams. When they ran to help they didn’t recognize the lady with the dark skin in the dirty, disheveled, Air Acolyte robes, but when they saw how Shuchun squirmed and kicked in her grasp, they knew she shouldn’t be here.

“Shut up, brat!” The woman slapped Shuchun across the face.

Jinora’s first feeling was shock, then deep anger. Her siblings were no exception.

“Stop that!” Ikki yelled.

“Yeah,” Meelo said. “You’re a bad lady!”

The three of them blasted air in the woman’s direction, knocking her against the back of the hallway and making her drop Shuchun. The girl ran to the airbender kids, arms outstretched. Jinora met her hug, held Shuchun close to her, hands resting on Shuchun’s back and head.

The woman looked up at them. For a moment Jinora saw rage in her green eyes. But then the woman smiled, reached out her hand, wiggled her fingers forward in a “come here” gesture.

“Don’t do it!” Jinora said.

But Ikki and Meelo had already hopped on air scooters, were racing toward her. The woman pulled something out of her robes, made a quick gesture. Jinora realized she had shot bits of earth into the air scooters. The rocks spun out of the whirling balls of wind, ricocheted off the walls and hit all four of them. They fell to the ground, aching and hurt.

“Do you see what happens when you’re a bad girl?” the woman sneered as she walked toward them. 

Jinora heard Shuchun sob beside her. “Please don’t hurt them, Tukiko!”

“‘Please don’t hurt them, Tukiko!’” the woman repeated in a high-pitched, mocking voice as she grabbed onto Shuchun’s arm, wrenched her to her feet. “I told you this would happen, you stupid girl. I told you and your brother time and time again that we’d hurt anyone who tried to help you if ran away. Right now your friend Bolin is lying at the bottom of the bay, and it’s all your fault!”

“No!” Shuchun burst into tears.

Jinora’s eyes widened. She didn’t understand most of what Tukiko said, hoped what she said about Bolin wasn’t true, but she knew now that Shuchun needed her help, forced herself to her feet and hit Tukiko with another blast of air. Tukiko snarled and leaped toward Jinora, backhanding her so hard Jinora’s head spun as she hit the ground again. Then Tukiko ran away, Shuchun in her arms.

Jinora still felt dizzy as Ikki and Meelo helped her to her feet.

“We’ve got to get Dad,” Jinora said. “Let’s hurry!”

~*~*~

“Korra, look!”

Korra’s gaze followed the direction of Asami’s finger. The girls had ridden Naga in an air bubble across the bay and were halfway up the pathway to the temples and the dormitories when Asami spotted Tukiko climbing down the cliff face. She bent parts of the earth to create better footing for herself, Shuchun squirming in her arms.

Korra growled and stood up on Naga’s back, ready to pounce. Asami grabbed onto Korra’s shoulder, pushed her back down.

“Bolin needs you more,” Asami said. “I’ll take this one.”

“Are you crazy? I had to save you from her sister. And she’s on a dangerous terrain surrounded by her element.”

“The twins bank on surprise. She won’t expect me.”

Korra exhaled sharply. Her blue eyes were cold as she looked back at Asami. “Don’t let her get away.”

Asami nodded and hopped off Naga.

The white beast raced up the hill, toward the other end of the island while Asami made her way across the craggy cliff face. It wasn’t easy. The rocks were slick as well as hard to navigate, and Asami once lost her footing and slipped. Nevertheless, she was making her way toward Tukiko and Shuchun at a quick pace.

When Asami saw a particularly large outcropping she ducked behind it, turned on her glove. As Tukiko passed by Asami leaped out from behind it, reached for Tukiko’s back.

Tukiko whirled around. She waved her free arm instinctively and a large rock hit Asami in the stomach. Asami fell back against the rocks, cried out as she felt them dig into her back. Nevertheless she scrambled to find purchase on the craggy terrain, stopped herself from sliding with her hands.

“Asami!” Shuchun cried.

“You?” Tukiko bared her teeth. “What have you done with my sister?”

The fear in Tukiko’s voice struck Asami, but after what happened earlier Asami had run out of sympathy for the both of them. “Well, I don’t know. What have you done with my ex-boyfriend?”

Tukiko snarled and waved her arm again, but this time Asami ducked. She then stepped forward, grabbed onto Shuchun and wrenched her out of Tukiko’s grip. Asami felt a sense of deep relief as small arms clasped around her neck, but it was short-lived. Tukiko kicked Asami in the shins and she fell forward, knocking into Tukiko.

The three of them rolled down the cliff face. Asami still had Shuchun in her arms, tried her best to shield the little girl as the rocks bruised her back and legs.

When they all stopped rolling they were on the surf. The young women stood up on shaky legs. Asami held out her electric glove, stood in front of Shuchun. The girl cowered behind Asami, arms wrapped around her waist.

Tukiko stood up. She stomped on the ground, and some wet sand rose in front of her, crumbling apart before it reached Asami. “Ugh. Darn it.”

The women ran toward each other, arms raised to strike. Then a blast of wind hit Tukiko, knocked her into the water.

Tenzin floated down next to Asami. His careworn face was twisted in fury, which softened when Tukiko stood up in the water.

“She’s a child,” Tenzin said softly.

“Can’t say I agree,” Asami grumbled.

Tukiko dove into the water. Asami held her glove over the water, hoping to shock it, but the glove sputtered instead. When she tried again, Tukiko re-emerged on the far side of the surf.

Tenzin went after her on his air scooter, Asami following as best she could, but as they rounded a corner of a cliff face they saw a jet ski along the surf. Tukiko leaped onto it, had it turned on before she sat on it properly, and sped off from the surf. Tenzin blasted some air in her direction, but all it did was rock the jet ski. She continued to ride away.

“No!” Asami cried out. At that moment all of the pain from the battle seemed to hit her. She collapsed on her knees in the sand.

Shuchun pet her back awkwardly. Tenzin crouched in front of her, rested his hand on her shoulder.

“The police are coming to secure the island,” he said. “Perhaps they’ll see her on the way here.”

Asami nodded, even though the thought of Mako in Kilaun’s clutches still haunted her. Despite what he’d done to her, she didn’t want to see him hurt, not like this. Asami reached for Shuchun and grabbed the little girl’s hand. “Thank you for helping me,” she said to Tenzin.

“And thank you for saving Shuchun,” he smiled and pet the girl on the head. “But why are you here? Where’s Korra?”

Asami took a deep breath and tried to explain as quickly as possible, but a loud honk filled the air as a Republic City Coast Guard ship pulled into the main docks, Lin Beifong at the bow.

~*~*~

Half-way across the island, on the Yin-Yang practice area, Korra caught sight of Pabu. The fire ferret squeaked when he saw Naga, then chittered and ran into the wooded area to the west. Korra rode after him. As she did, she could see signs of the fight in the overturned tree, the craters in the earth.

Ever since she left the industrial district, Korra had been trying to keep a lid on a growing urge, practically a need, to completely lose it. She doubted her decision to leave the place where Mako had been captured just as much as she doubted her decision to go there in the first place. One minute the image of Kilaun beating Mako tormented her. Next it was Mako in front of her, bruised but safe, asking her, “But why didn’t you go after Bolin?”

It can’t be too late, Korra kept thinking. But did she truly know that or did she just want to believe it?

The trail ended where Korra knew it would – the cliff face on the west side of the island. Pabu whined and looked over the edge. As Korra dismounted, took in the uprooted and soft ground around her, the overwhelming hopelessness threatened to open inside her.

But then a scent tickled her nose.

Korra took a deep breath. It was Bolin’s smell, definitely. Maybe it was just the aftereffects of his heat and she was still far, far too late but it gave her hope. Korra leaped off the edge of the cliff, bending water to catch herself on the way down.

She was used to arctic waters, to falling through a patch of weak ice and pulling herself out to find her coat heavy and her limbs shaking for what felt like hours. Yet while she could tolerate the chill of the bay in Republic City’s early spring, she worried if Bolin could have.

After Korra came up for air and re-submerged again she formed an air bubble around her head, not so much for her breathing as for her eyes, yet so little was clear in the murky depths made even murkier by the night. She tried to swim as close to the bay floor as possible, hoping and not hoping to find a body, fearing that the lack of one wouldn’t mean that Bolin was alive but that he’d been rushed away by the current.

Korra swam to the side of the cliff, clawed her fingers into the rock to hold herself steady. She had to keep trying, she told herself. She thought of the night of Amon’s Revelation, how she and Mako had gone to such lengths and gone through so much together to save Bolin.

Had that really all been for nothing?

Korra felt herself slipping. She gripped onto the cliff face more tightly, using earthbending to dig her fingers in. Her left hand held fast onto the rock, but the right one dug through and hit air. Surprised, Korra pulled her hand back, and a huge chunk of rock came with it, leaving a dark tunnel behind it.

Korra peeked her head through it, and met Bolin’s scent.

~*~*~

Toza used to say that the first thing you learned in pro-bending was how to fall.

Bolin had the presence of mind to straighten out his body, cutting gracefully through waves below instead of slapping against the surface. The water was deep, and he dove down far enough that it took him quite a while to come back up again. Yet the sudden cold, the sudden shock, still hurt.

He emerged above the water with a gasp, relieved until he took in the steep, high cliff face, until he felt the current trying to pull him out to sea.

Bolin wasn’t a bad swimmer, but he was more used to sedate pools than waves, and struggled for several minutes to reach the rocky cliff face. His initial plan was to create stairs in the rocks, to slowly climb his way back up the mountain, but earthbending was meant for a strong stance, for swift movements with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Here he had to kick constantly against the undertow to even stay afloat.

He succeeded in bending out a large bit of earth at one point but instead of creating a firm ledge to grab on it ended up breaking off and falling into the water. Frustrated, Bolin pushed himself and swam with all his strength to the indentation. His hand slipped at first when he tried to grab it, but on the second try he was able to hoist himself up with a groan.

For a moment Bolin lay in the hole he created in the cliff face, wet and exhausted. As he lay there, however, he felt a low throbbing in his groin, in his womb.

“Oh, come on,” Bolin whimpered. He forced himself to his hands and knees. He sealed the hole closed, started tunneling deeper into the earth.

Part of him despaired at his actions. He wished he had the strength to keep fighting, the strength to bust up through the earth and save Shuchun, but he felt so weak, so needy and lustful.

I’m going to die if I don’t mate, Bolin thought. He knew that wasn’t actually true or something that happened to people but at that moment it felt like it could be. His body had taken a beating from that fight and he was cold and wet and muddy and oh he could practically taste the size of the knot that he wanted, that he needed. He moaned as a gush of lubricant forced its way out of him.

Bolin laid beneath the earth in agony. When he dozed he dreamed of hands undressing and caressing him, of hard flesh opening him and pounding into him (and even through it all he despaired at how his first instinct was to turn the skin of his shadow-lover dark, her eyes shining and blue). When he woke his desire felt all the more acute, more painful.

But despite all that, when he heard the earth rumble open at the mouth of the tunnel, Bolin only felt fear.

~*~*~

Fear had turned to giddiness in Korra. When she realized Bolin was alive, was relatively safe, relief had pushed it away and allowed everything else to come in.

Korra had crawled through the tunnel as a sort of automatic instinct, concerned about her friend. When she realized the strength of the scent, how it had become almost fog-like in the narrow, enclosed space, it had already worked its spell on her. Lust ignited within her like a match to kerosene.

Tight. That was the word for how Korra felt right now: muscles tense in her arms and legs, nipples poking through her wet shirt, her clitoris unsheathed and heavy between her legs. Every part of her body, of her mind, felt like a string ready to snap.

Korra saw Bolin. He was pressed, crouched with his back and palms of his hands up against the end of the tunnel. Yet the way he looked didn’t matter to Korra as much as the way he smelled, as much as what his heat was doing to her body.

“K-Korra,” Bolin gulped hard. “Korra, please. I’m not myself right now. I can’t say n— ”

Korra growled and pounced on Bolin, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, slamming him to the ground. She sunk her teeth into the crook of his neck and shoulder, and his moan of pain went straight to her groin.

She rubbed her clitoris against him, and the jolt of pleasure that followed made her nerves sing. She started humping him vigorously, over his clothes, the need for touch temporarily outweighing the deeper desire for penetration, the base and primal desire to stick into another human and fill them and breed them. Bolin’s scent was so much more delicious now.

And his body, oh it was so strong writhing beneath her. At first his thick hands had pushed back against her shoulders, her face but now Bolin was grasping onto her clothes. He moaned with every thrust, louder and louder. Korra ripped open Bolin’s shirt, pressed her lips against his chest and sucked until the skin turned red.

“I’m coming!” Bolin moaned. “Korra, Korra I’m sorry I’m ...”

A rumbling filled her ears, and Korra realized it was coming from above. New, fresh air rushed in, and Korra’s mind opened, expanded. Where she’d at first been only able to see one thing, she now saw everything.

They were all looking down at her: Tenzin, Asami, Pema, Jinora, Shuchun and Beifong, the crags of the earth Beifong had cracked open held high above her head. Still in rut mode, Korra’s first instinct was to bare her teeth, to hiss and grab onto Bolin, but then she felt metal cables wrapping around the both of them and pulling them to the surface.

When they were on the ground Korra leaped toward Bolin, but she felt herself yanked back by the cables like a leash she’d once put around Naga. Tenzin was yelling something at her, but when Korra looked back at him he’d realized what had happened, was covering his nose with his robes and pushing Jinora and Shuchun away from Bolin. Asami was glaring at Korra, but she had her hands over her nose, too.

Beifong wrapped her arms around Korra, both shielding and restraining her. “Pema, get him away from us! Now!”

Pema snarled but took Bolin by the shoulders, led him back to the main house. “I didn’t mean to ...” he said as they walked away, but Korra didn’t hear the rest of it.

The realization, the full realization, of what Korra had done suddenly hit her. She wanted to scream, wanted to be sick. She collapsed to her knees in Beifong’s arms, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

~*~*~

Sitting in Air Temple Island’s cafeteria, rubbing her arms, Korra wanted nothing more than to bust out of the room, to leave the island and start searching the city for Mako and to get as far away from her most recent memory as possible, but Tenzin and Beifong had both ordered her to stay put.

The two of them were coming back. Right now Asami was the only other person in the room. She sat at Korra’s right, a scowl on her face and her arms crossed. In her heart of hearts – no, in her conscience – Korra really couldn’t blame her.

In earlier times, what Korra had done wouldn’t have been considered wrong. If anything, people might have considered Bolin the one at fault. But times had changed. A strong Yang, a noble Yang, always had self-control. That’s what every teacher had taught her, and what Korra had believed.

Korra wasn’t the easiest kid to take care of growing up. She was always rambunctious, and during puberty she was even more prone to lose her temper, but she’d never gone through a chastising or any other sort of ritual to teach Yangs self-control and humility, and she was proud of that. Beating someone – Yin or Yang – in battle was one thing, but to try to force them into ... into ...

(But I didn’t mean it. The tunnel made the heat stronger. He liked it. I didn’t know. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t even think I liked Yins that way ...

And yet if Lin Beifong hadn’t used her seismic sense to find us ...)

The doors opened. Beifong and Tenzin walked in together. For a moment, Korra had a stray thought about how they did seem at ease with each other in some way. Not friendly, never friendly, but now that she knew their history she could see in the traces of how they had treated each other, and how they had once been.

Then again Korra was probably just trying not to think about how angry, how disappointed, they both looked at her.

Beifong took the seat close to Korra, Tenzin at her side. “There’s a lot we need to talk about,” she said as she sat down.

Korra nodded. “If you want the chastising to be public or something I’m cool with that.”

Tenzin’s eyes widened. Beifong frowned. “Korra, this isn’t the Hundred Year’s War and I’m not going to beat you up so you can feel better about your adolescent inability to control your hormones. If you want this to go away, you apologize to Bolin when he gets out of the cell and hope he forgives you.”

Korra thought getting beaten up in public might have been easier than listening to that. “Yes ma’am.”

“Where is Bolin?” Asami asked.

“In Pema’s private heat cell,” Tenzin said. “We both agreed it was wiser given that Tukiko found and attacked him in the general heat cells. Pema was still with him when I left. Right now the White Lotus have sentries posted outside the door – ”

“Sentries who should have been informed of what the twins and Kilaun looked like yesterday,” Beifong interrupted.

Tenzin sighed and frowned. “Yes, so you’ve said. I – ”

“This isn’t just your private home. It’s a public place and you’re an elected official and it needs actual security, not the White Lotus loafing around as if they’re on vacation.”

“This is a place of refuge! I’m not going to treat it as a military fortress!” Tenzin snapped at Lin. He sighed and muttered, “Besides, I doubt I’ll still be councilman before the year is out.”

“What?” Korra’s eyes widened. “Why?”

Tenzin shook his head. “The mandatory non-benders on the council idea is out. The new consensus is that the United Republic needs to stand on its own, without the influence of other nations. They want to elect a president.”

“Wow,” Asami whispered. “I ... I guess it makes sense. I’m sorry, though.”

Beifong shrugged. Korra supposed to her it would be keeping her job that mattered, no matter what political upheaval. “Anyway, Bolin told one of my Yin officers about the heat-inducing drug. To be honest our test results from syringes we found their house makes this not that much of a surprise. There’s a hormone that gets activated during the beginning of a Yin’s arousal that the lab found traces of on the syringes. I imagine we’ll find some of this on the empty syringe Bolin used.”

Korra nodded grimly. So that meant Tukiko gave that drug to Shuchun, too. Ugh, the thought made her sick. (Yet it was harder for Korra to feel righteous about her disgust with her own guilt hanging over her.)

“So you’ve seen this drug before?” Asami asked.

“No,” Beifong said. “But rumors of it have floated around since around the end of Amon’s revolution.”

“In other words when Kilaun was probably forming his pack ...” Korra said. “How about the people who worked at the club? Have they been talking?”

“A bit,” Beifong said. “Kilaun’s ties to the Red Monsoons run long but not very deep. Usually they’d tap him to enforce debts when the benders were too busy. The bender triads have never had much room for non-bender muscle, but many people know about his strength. He had an unfortunate habit of sleeping with the Yins of rival gang members, though. His bosses thought that was funny until he did it to an old flame of the Agni Kais’ leader. Then he was apparently more trouble than he was worth.”

“This guy just gets more and more charming,” Asami grumbled.

“Um, I hate to be the crass one, but wouldn’t a guy who trafficked kids, well ...” Korra shuddered a bit. “... want that?” 

Beifong raised an eyebrow. “Not necessarily. Kids are considered easier to manipulate. It’s not about sexuality for people like him. Actually, I’d be surprised if it comes into it at all for Kilaun. A guy like him probably thinks of people as pieces on a Pai Sho board.”

Tenzin snorted, disgusted. He looked at the door briefly as if he wanted to be somewhere else.

Korra did too. She stood up. “I’m going to rustle up every Red Monsoon in this city and overturn every brothel until I find him.”

“No,” Tenzin said. “Korra, let the police handle this one.”

Korra shook her head. “I’ve waited for long enough. I’m not going to sit here when that creep has his hands on my bondmate!”

“Korra,” Tenzin stiffened, he paused a moment before considering his words. “My parents thought the chastising traditions were barbaric. I know your father does too. And I also know that while you’re aggressive, and temperamental, and stubborn!” Tenzin’s words grew ever louder with each bad trait he listed. “You also aren’t normally the type to hurt your friends, or the people you love. And that’s why you need to stand down. Because if you’re emotional enough to do something I know you’re regretting now you’ll do it again.”

Korra hung her head, stung. What Tenzin was saying made sense, but in her heart ... “No. Tenzin, he’s going after me. Me. That’s what Shuchun said he’d do. I can’t stop because he won’t stop.”

“Korra,” Beifong said. “So many people like him use lies to manipulate ...”

“It’s not lies!” Korra exclaimed. “If Tukiko had come here to just get Shuchun, her sister wouldn’t have been trying to capture Asami. Kilaun wouldn’t have gone after Mako. He did this to send a message.”

“So you need to respond?” Beifong challenged.

“Listen to me,” Tenzin said. “I know you’re upset, but this isn’t the answer. Not every push deserves a pushback. Not now, at least. I want you to go to bed and let the police handle this until the morning.”

“As long as Mako’s in trouble, as long as Kilaun wants to attack the people close to me. I can’t rest. Sorry, Tenzin.”

Korra stormed out of the room. Naga was waiting for her outside, whimpered and rubbed her face against Korra’s. Korra pushed it away. “Not now, girl.”

The door opened. Korra was surprised, but not entirely, to see Asami walking out of it.

“Let me come with you.”

Korra shook her head, put her foot into Naga’s saddle and hoisted herself onto the polar bear-dog’s back. “You’ll be safest here.”

“I told you when we first met that I can handle myself. And Tenzin’s right, you know. You are likely to do something you regret again.”

As long as I’m far away from here I won’t, Korra thought, but there was no way she would tell Asami that. She kicked Naga’s sides. The polar bear-dog looked at her and whined, but when she did it again Naga started off.

“You’re just doing it because you feel guilty!” Asami called after her.

Hot rage exploded inside her. Korra snarled and yanked on Naga’s harness, making her yelp. She stomped back toward Asami. “Listen to me. I love Mako, okay? Maybe you think I’m some kind of monster right now. Maybe you think I’m awful. And you know what? I can understand why. But I love him and I’m not going to let that sicko put his awful, smelly hands on him and if you could, then I don’t think you ever cared about Mako at all.”

Asami let out a long, low snort. “You know,” she said after awhile. “Back there you said Tukiyo attacked me to get to you. You acted like I was one of the people you loved. And here I am trying to help you and you take a cheap shot like that? After all I’ve done for you? After all I’ve forgiven you for?”

“Well, I never asked for your help!” Korra yelled. “I didn’t ask you to help defeat the Equalists. I didn’t ask you to help save Shuchun and I’m not asking for your help now. And you know what else? I don’t care if you ‘forgive’ me, because I don’t care about you. We’re not friends. You’re just friends with my friends, and frankly I’m not even sure of that now!”

“Korra,” Asami’s voice cracked as she spoke. She rolled her lips as if chewing them. “Korra, I know you don’t mean that.”

“You don’t know me,” Korra spat.

She got back on Naga, rode her down the ramp off the island.

Asami felt her knees fail her, collapsed down onto them on the ground. It’s anger, Asami thought. It’s hormones. She lashes out and apologizes later. Mako might have even told her that. And yet as Asami watched Korra go, as she felt her heart sink, she could only ask one thing.

“Then what am I supposed to do now?”

~*~*~

Korra didn’t return to the island for days.

To Jinora, things changed very quickly and very uncomfortably. Tenzin ended up taking Beifong’s advice and the next day the Republic City Police started patrolling the island and the Coast Guard the water. Beifong ended up coming back to the island during the evenings as well, which Pema bore silently but not without some resentment.

Asami had wanted to go home on the day Korra left, but Beifong insisted she stay at the island, at least until the police had the chance to question her servants. She spent her first day in the healing wing, lying stomach-down on a bed while one of the older Yin male Air Acolytes massaged and kneaded her bruised back. The next few she also spent largely on her own, holded up in her borrowed room, trying to repair her broken glove. Jinora had once checked in on her, and from what she could tell it wasn’t going well.

As for Bolin ... something was up with him. Jinora didn’t see him for a day, and then after the adults told him that he couldn’t leave the island to search for Mako or Korra either, he spent a lot of time sitting and waiting on the docks. A few times Meelo and Ikki tried to get him to play with them, but Bolin just shrugged and shook his head. In the past he probably would have let them down with a joke or something.

“He was sick like me, I think,” Shuchun said. But when Jinora tried to ask what that meant, she didn’t really understand Shuchun’s explanation.

It was only when her mother mentioned the word “heat” in a sentence with one of her students that things began to come together.

~*~*~

“Hello? Hello? Korra, is that you? Hello?”

Tenzin listened a few moments more to the dead air on the other end of the earpiece before sighing and hanging up the phone. It had been almost a week now. Tenzin had gone out searching for Korra since then, as had the police, but Korra and Naga were doing remarkably well at staying hidden.

He worried about her. He worried about Korra’s boyfriend, as well, but he felt like he had a special responsibility for the Avatar’s welfare, and there were so many ways she could be hurt in this situation.

A knocking drew Tenzin from his thoughts. Jinora stood in the doorframe. “Who was on the phone, Dad?”

Tenzin shrugged. “A wrong number, I think. Is there something you want, sweetie?”

Jinora took a deep breath and approached Tenzin’s desk. She had her back straight up, was trying to look as adult as possible. “I want to know what’s wrong with Shuchun.”

Oh, that. Tenzin and Pema had already rehearsed what they would tell the children if they asked so that was easy enough. “Shuchun was captured by a triad and needs our protection. Korra and her friends have been working to defeat the triad, but they attacked in a way we didn’t expect. But now Chief Beifong is here and ...”

“You’re lying to me.” Jinora frowned.

Tenzin blenched. “N-No, I’m not. Why ... why would you think that?”

“Because she’s sick, and she said Bolin was sick like her because of something the triad did. So what’s really going wrong, Dad? What are you hiding from us?”

Tenzin sighed and leaned back in his chair. Jinora sat herself on the edge of his desk. He briefly thought back to that awkward talk he’d had with his mother shortly after he presented (Bumi had gotten his from Zuko; Kya from Aang), tried to remember what she said.

“Well, you see,” Tenzin started. “When two people love each other very much ...”

Jinora groaned and rolled her eyes. “Dad, I have three younger siblings. I know what mating is. Mom told me all about that and heat a long time ago.”

“Oh ...” Tenzin said. This was supposed to be the part where the conversation ended, where he was let off the hook from having to explain the uncomfortable and upsetting aspects of the world. If only.

“So you know about Yins, Yangs and in-betweens as well, then?” When Jinora nodded, he said, “A heat can be a scary time for a Yin, and overwhelming for a Yang who smells it, or even smells Yins – so overwhelming that many cultures have imposed rituals to teach Yangs self-control. The Air Nomads always believed self-discipline was something Yangs needed to be solely responsible for, sensei to sensei. But most people know that the best way for Yins and Yangs to mate is by mutual consent.”

Jinora was lightly kicking the air where her feet draped over the desk. “Well, yeah, that makes sense,” she said. “But what’s this have to do with Shuchun being sick?”

“She’s not actually sick, Jinora,” Tenzin said, although of that he couldn’t be totally sure. Pema said Bolin wasn’t recovering from the heat – which lasted far longer than it should have – in a normal manner. Being a young child Tenzin guessed that Shuchun was also feeling some negative effects. “We don’t know how they did this, but the triad gave her and Bolin drugs to make them go into heat.”

Jinora raised an eyebrow. “But ... why would they do that?”

“Well,” Tenzin let out a long huff of a sigh. “Remember how I said most people know that two people have to agree beforehand if they mate? Others ... mostly Yangs, don’t believe so. They believe that Yin and Yang aren’t complementary forces, that Yangs were meant to rule Yins and ... and also take advantage of them.”

A strange look came over Jinora’s face. Tenzin expected shock and horror, but it was more of an uneasy understanding. “By mating them?”

“Yes.”

“But ... well, is that so bad? I mean, Mom said when you’re in heat you sometimes want someone else to make you feel good.”

Tenzin flinched a bit, even though he knew Jinora was speaking only from ignorance. “It’s not the same,” he said firmly. “There are things in life we agree to because we want them, and other things people agree to because they’re forced into it, because they’re emotionally compromised, because they have no other option, because they’ve been treated so badly that living for someone else’s wishes seems better than escape. Can you imagine being taken away from your family, can you imagine having nowhere else to go? And then someone does something to you that makes you especially vulnerable and scared, and then uses that pain to hurt you? Can you imagine someone doing something to you that nobody should do unless they love you?”

Jinora was hugging herself. “Does it hurt that much, Dad?”

Tenzin shook his head. “Sometimes. But other times it’s not about physical pain.”

“Did someone try to mate with Shuchun?”

“Tried,” Tenzin said. “They didn’t get to. But her brother is still in danger.”

Jinora slipped down off the desk, her arms still around her as she started to walk away.

“Do ... Do you want a hug?” Tenzin asked.

“No, I’m fine,” she said, although her voice sounded very distant.

“Jinora, wait,” Tenzin stood up as Jinora paused in the doorway. “Don’t tell your siblings about this, at least not yet. And don’t try to ask Shuchun for details of what happened. In situations like this people need to heal in their own time.”

Jinora nodded, but her mind was still churning as she walked down the hall.

~*~*~

Korra started her hunt in the Red Monsoons’ territory, the parameters of which she traded from a former Agni Kai in exchange for the return of his firebending. Several interrogations followed. Something Korra learned quickly about triad members was that their rank tended to be inversely proportional to the looseness of their lips. Even with threats, much of the information she received from the triad’s foot soldiers was incomplete, or in some instances completely wrong.

With some detective work and luck she stumbled upon a Red Monsoon brothel, and after a fight where she took more than a few hits, the triad lieutenant told her that while the exact location of Kilaun’s ultimate base was unknown even to the triad leaders, it was thought to be somewhere near Republic City Hospital East.

Korra began her search by turning a bunch of massage parlors in the vicinity of the hospital inside out. (Well, them and a legitimate beauty salon which was surprisingly understanding when she helped clean up after realizing her mistake. The owner even offered a discounted haircut, insisting the Avatar would look stunning with a pixie.) At one of the parlors, Korra learned a Yin male employee had been “sold” to the owners from the triad, and, after a promise of an escort to the police for protection, the employee gave her directions to the place where he had been held.

Alas, after Korra slipped the employee into the nearest precinct office and ran off before the officers could alert central headquarters (and Beifong), she took up the trail again only to find another dead end. It turned out to be another empty home-turned-brothel. It was filled with elaborate furniture that suggested wealth and exoticism while still looking and feeling cheap, but utterly devoid of people.

Deflated and crushed, Korra ended up plopping herself down in a room done up with Water Tribe trappings. She tried to think of what to do, but just being in the room made her angry. She resented the shields decorated with symbols that meant nothing, the bedspread with the fake fur that would be too cold on a summer’s day. She burned a cheap platypus-bear on the mantel, but it barely made her feel better.

Naga was waiting for her outside. She was so tired. She and Naga had been spending their time not searching sleeping in the backs of alleys, prowling the streets for hours and barely eating. She should have left this place, should have asked for Tenzin and Beifong’s help. And yet ...

(“I heard the Avatar helps people.”)

Bolin had once reminded her that Aang didn’t save the world alone, but that was different. Aang was young and hadn’t mastered all the elements. She should have had it all now: the bending, the connection to her past lives, the Avatar State. And yet in the end she couldn’t protect her friends, couldn’t find the people who hurt Shuchun. Some Avatar you are, Korra thought to herself.

Some Yang you are.

“It’s not over,” Korra murmured to herself. She stood up. Maybe she could search this place for clues. Maybe something in the tacky – she’d heard that word from Asami once and now repeated it in her head with a virulence – place would lead her to Mako and Jiayi.

She heard a creak coming from the first floor as she entered the hallway. At first Korra believed it was the house settling, but then footsteps followed. Korra let out a deep breath that turned into a growling hum. Her anger reverberated through every tired, sweaty muscle.

Come and get me, she thought as she crept down the stairs. Come on, you scum.

She hadn’t turned on any lights, but the footsteps told her the person was coming from the back of the house. Strange, Korra thought, she hadn’t seen a back door. Korra waited at the foot of the stairs, a flame flickering in her palm. The steps grew louder, and when Korra saw movement in the nearby doorjamb she pounced, lighting the room with the glowing flame in her hand.

Mako stood in the flames light.

Korra immediately stopped, her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounding. She’d let the flame die, but even in the darkness she only became more sure of her impression. It was definitely him. His face and arms had been bruised, and maybe he moved a little slower, but there was no mistaking him.

“Mako!”

He returned her embrace as she ran to him. Korra squeezed him tightly, relief rolling through her, her rage fading away. Mako was back. Mako was okay. Everything would be all right now.

Korra kissed him on the cheek, then buried her nose into the crook of his neck. She breathed in his scent deeply and ...

No ... Korra’s eyes shot open. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as a soft crackling filled the air. This wasn’t right.

Korra yelled and pushed Mako away, letting the bolt of lightning strike above her head. Yet that attempt to hurt her wasn’t as shocking, as horrible as the rage and fear that started screaming in her head.

Mako smelled like Kilaun.

Korra created another fireball, lit up the room. Mako stood before her in a probending stance, his fingers crackling with energy, and it was only now that Korra saw the deadness in his eyes.

End Part 8.


	9. Chapter 9

~*~*~

Korra took a slow step back, hands up and ready to block.

“Mako,” she said, struggling to keep her voice steady. “I don’t know what happened to you, but you don’t want to – ”

Korra saw the punch coming and instinctively spun her hands forward and out, taking control of the fire and blowing it behind her. While she acted quickly enough that she wasn’t injured, the fire was hotter than she expected.

As she registered this thought, Mako charged toward her. Korra bent backwards, breathing heavily as hot blasts zoomed above her chest.

Korra turned the backbend into a flip, propelled herself forward so her boot heels hit Mako in the sternum. The blow knocked Mako backwards. When Korra got to her feet she grabbed onto Mako’s wrists, tried to pin him against the wall. His knee snapped up against her stomach, slammed her to the ground.

Korra had little time to recover. She rolled to the side as a fireball ignited the wood floor where she lay. Then Korra jumped to her feet and used her firebending to propel herself from the ground to halfway up the stairs. From there she broke into a run, letting Mako take the time to disperse the flame before he followed her.

When Korra reached the top of the stairs she sprinted down the hallway. She heard crackling behind her and did a barrel roll back into the Water Tribe room, feeling the hairs at the back of her neck stand up as lightning struck. Korra firebent toward the window, and several loud cracks rang throughout the room as the glass shattered. She jumped through the opening, used airbending to propel herself onto the next nearby roof.

Mako wouldn’t be far behind her, Korra knew. She ran to the far edge of the roof. The alleyway between that building and the next was barely four feet. Korra dropped down into the space, reached out her hands and feet on either side of her in a split. She slid to a stop, still a story and a half above the ground, and waited with straining muscles.

Korra could hear the woosh of Mako’s firebending, then slow steps across the roof. She imagined Mako walking across the rooftop, his dead eyes scanning the skyline, understanding his surroundings but not the impact of his actions. Korra usually believed in overpowering an opponent, of tackling him or her head-on and ending the fight with a brutal swiftness and flair. Maybe she should have been doing that now – she certainly knew how to stop someone without seriously hurting them. But she was still shaken, confused, running on instinct and that instinct was to hide and try to figure out how this was happening and what she should do.

“Korra?”

At the sound of her name, Korra’s chest tightened. She straightened her limbs again, trying to stay still and focused. Korra had expected Mako to sound dazed or drugged but he sounded uncomfortably like himself, like he was calling her name from across the room at the Pro-Bending Arena or the living quarters of Air Temple Island.

“Hey, Korra. Why are you hiding from me? Are you scared of me? Do you think I would hurt you?”

Korra breathed deeply. She felt herself slip down an inch, brick abrading her fingertips.

Mako laughed. “But how could I hurt you, sweetie? Why would I do that?”

Korra frowned. What was going on here?

“Aren’t you so much stronger than me? Aren’t you a Yang?” The mocking tone in Mako’s voice turned rough and angry. “Why are you afraid of me, you coward? Why don’t you fig-- ?”

An explosion of fire and wind cracked through the air as Korra propelled herself out from the alley. She spun in the sky, knocking Mako back on the ground with airbending. But as she landed, as Mako got to his feet, a crooked and vicious smile split his face.

Fireballs flew toward her, one barely a second after the other. Korra ducked and weaved through the onslaught, her body and her will operating in battle-mode, eager to find and defeat or deflect the next challenge. She wasn’t a coward. She could take Mako down. She would stop him and get him somewhere and fix him and how could Kilaun why was this happening that horrible, horrible ...

The last punch nearly hit her. Korra had gained ground, had come within a foot of Mako when the latest flaming punch blew towards her, singeing the ends of her ponytails as she strafed to the right. Then another blast came. Korra’s heart was pounding as she pushed it away, her body drenched in sweat. When she stepped forward again she chopped her hand against Mako’s ribs, brought her other up to hit him in the face.

Mako stumbled backward but didn’t fall. A relief surged through Korra’s body. She was winning! She could do this. It was going to be all right. Korra took the opportunity to roundhouse kick him, the top part of her foot hitting his shoulder. Mako went down to his knees, and Korra yelled out in triumph as she dug her boot heel into his back, pinning him to the ground.

Korra’s shoulders rose and fell with every loud breath. She was sweating, but it probably wasn’t enough to create an ice encasement. She’d have to knock him out if she wanted to bring him back to Air Temple Island. Or maybe the hospital. Or ... Beifong? Korra gulped hard and pulled back her hand, prepared to strike ...

Mako turned his face up toward hers, struggling against her boot but just barely. His eyes looked glassy, large and sad. Her bondmate had always been tough. His athlete’s strength and skill first drew Korra to him, and his strength of resolve – even when it turned into that stubbornness which clashed against her own – kept her there. And yet in their friendship, in these early months of their relationship it had been his moments of vulnerability – when he worried after Bolin, or tried to assure her in a time of need – that had kindled her Yang instinct to protect him, that had warmed her heart.

Korra lowered her fist. When she removed her foot she reached for Mako. She held him tightly in her arms, pinning his own down and holding him steady by the hair as she kissed him. At first the kiss made her want to gag, the scent of Kilaun thick in her nose. She felt like she could taste him as she pushed her tongue inside Mako’s mouth.

I don’t care, Korra thought. He’s mine. I’ll show you how much he’s mine.

Korra could feel Mako struggle against her. She growled in response. Her nails dug into his wrists and her legs straddled his. She pushed him back against the roof, the shingles digging into, almost pulling away at the skin of her arm as she thrust against him.

Mako fought against her even harder, thrashing and pushing back against her. And yet, after a few minutes, Korra could feel Mako’s muscles slacken, could feel his mouth soften to let her inside.

Korra pulled herself away, her lips wet with saliva. Korra searched Mako’s face – red with exertion and shock – for something resembling affection, resembling their love.

“Please,” Korra whispered. “Please, Mako, you have to remember.”

“Korra ...” Mako moaned. His words made her heart flutter. She reached out to grab his face, when Mako grasped onto her wrists.

The wicked smile, the dead eyes, stared her back in the face.

“You can’t remember something you never had.”

Korra’s stomach lurched. The nausea only grew worse as she felt Mako’s knee hit her gut, as she felt herself propelled back. She was thrown back head over heels, over the side of the roof, would have fallen to the ground if she hadn’t grabbed onto the edge at the last moment.

Mako strode over to the side, the cocky smirk on his face again. Korra was just about to pull herself over the side when Mako stepped on her hand. As she cried out, Mako grabbed onto her back ponytail, held her in place.

“You’re not a real Yang,” Mako sneered. “You’re not strong. You’re just lucky. If Aang hadn’t given you back your bending you would be remembered as the failure that you are.”

“No,” Korra strained, trying to speak through the lump in her throat. She tried to bend something but all her strength was concentrated on trying to keep her balance, on trying to get free. “Mako, I don’t know what Kilaun said or did to you, but this isn’t you. You have to remember who you are, if not for me than at least for Bo – .”

Korra didn’t get to finish the name. What happened next happened so fast: the flash of light coming toward her, the warmth throughout her body as she slipped into the Avatar State. She could feel Aang’s presence throughout her body, and the memory of a young girl with a regal bearing and a cruel face flashed in her mind as she felt the lightning enter her body. Even through the Avatar state it burned as it rolled through her belly and came out through her hands.

She felt her hand slip, her vision go blurry as the Avatar State left her. She was falling through the air. Korra told herself she should be airbending but her limbs felt so heavy, so tired. There was a moment of almost peace before she felt herself slam against something hard. A roaring echoed in her ears as she passed out.

~*~*~

“I can’t do this.”

Jinora opened her eyes. Shuchun sat cross-legged in front of her, worrying at the tattered hem of her dress. The clouded skies and churning bay around them made the air in the meditation gazebo dim and foggy in the early morning sun.

“Don’t worry,” Jinora said as she lowered her joined hands. “It took Korra a long time to get it.”

Shuchun shook her head, her eyes locked on the ground. Jinora tried not to be bothered by it, tried to remember what her father said about Shuchun needing time. But this was the best way to help her, wasn’t it?

“I told you that you don’t need to be an airbender to benefit from the training,” Jinora said. “Meditation is all about looking inside of yourself and finding your best self. It helps you be strong.”

“But I’m not strong,” Shuchun muttered. Her green eyes were nearly buried beneath her bangs. 

Jinora had a large capacity for patience, but she felt a bit at a loss for what to do. She wanted to help Shuchun, but Shuchun seemed to need so much help that it was hard to know where to start, or even if she should be starting.

Jinora thought for a few minutes more, and then she asked, “Why don’t you think you’re strong?”

“I don’t think I’m not strong. I know I’m not strong,” Shuchun shook her head. “I’m scared and I can’t fight and I cry a lot and everybody knows it.”

“Nobody says that about you, Shuchun.” Jinora said. “Even Ikki. She’s just impatient because you’re a lot different than all of us, but being different doesn’t make you weak, or even bad.”

“Tukiko and Tukiyo said that about me,” Shuchun muttered.

Jinora frowned. “But they’re terrible people who captured you and your brother. Why would you believe them when they said that?”

“Because they did capture me and my brother,” Shuchun said.

Jinora shuffled forward. She took Shuchun by the hand. “No matter what they said or did to you, you escaped. If you escaped, that means you were strong enough to break away from them, and that means that they don’t know everything about you.”

Shuchun looked up slowly, tried to smile.

Jinora smiled back. “Now close your eyes,” she said, watching as Shuchun did so. “Now, I want you to try to find your root chakra. It’s located down deep in your groin and it’s all about survival and basic needs. It’s also blocked by fear, so you’re probably going to have a lot of trouble seeing it. But try to visualize a red ball of light.”

Shuchun took a deep breath, then another, her breathing forming a long, slow rhythm. Jinora watched with intensity for several minutes, thought that perhaps she should try meditating on her own again while Shuchun kept searching, when she heard a foghorn off in the distance.

Jinora looked out into the Bay. A Republic City Coast Guard ship had pulled up to the docks. At the bottom of the steps, Jinora saw Korra stepping out of it, a forlorn Naga walking by her side. Korra’s clothes looked dirty and her hair was down, disheveled. Mako wasn’t with her, and somehow Jinora knew it wasn’t because he was still on the boat.

“It’s dirty ...”

Jinora turned back to Shuchun.

“I see it.” Shuchun’s voice was soft. “The ball of light. But it’s dark and dirty.”

Jinora bit her lip. She closed her eyes as well. “We just need to center ourselves and it’ll be clean,” Jinora reached out and held Shuchun’s hands. She squeezed them tightly as she tried to control the tightness growing in her chest. “Then you won’t need to fear a thing ...”

~*~*~

Korra had fallen on a truck.

It had carried Korra several blocks away before Naga had tracked her scent. Upon seeing the polar bear-dog in the rear-view mirror the driver veered off the road, hitting the side of a building. After it stopped, Naga pulled Korra off the top of the truck with her mouth, waking Korra up. When she realized what had happened, Korra apologized and said she’d try to help fix the truck. Far from being grateful, however, the driver started screaming at her. Korra found herself walking over to Naga, getting on the polar bear-dog’s back and riding away, leaving him to fume in the dust.

On the trip back to the island, Korra thought of how she probably would have been angry and indignant too, and that she’d spent the last week in that state, lashing out at others.

The Air Acolytes greeted her warmly. Pema ran out to meet Korra as soon as she heard she’d arrived, offered her every comfort from food to a hot bath to her bed, but Korra demurred. There were things she had to do.

First, she went to Tenzin and Beifong. They were still upset with her for leaving, of course, but when they heard about Mako they treated her more gently – even if Beifong did it a bit more begrudgingly.

They asked of her what Korra knew they would: that she listen to their advice for real this time and keep out of it. Korra didn’t argue, even when Tenzin threatened to keep Air Acolytes posted at her doorway in the night. At least Beifong had good news: more traces of the drug use were popping up, although surprisingly not in Lotus Way. A recent cactus juice bust of a wealthy Yang businesswoman’s house had revealed traces of the drug in vials on her dresser. When asked about the drug, however, the woman demanded to speak to her attorney. More empty vials had been found on a Yang man leaving a brothel not far from Republic City Hospital East, and another on a Yang couple arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment near the Golden Lion Turtle Theater. All of the Yangs had been rich – descendants of the first Fire Nation colonists or newly moneyed in the industrial boom – but other than that they found few points of comparison.

And then there was the other, the far more upsetting, news.

~*~*~

Pema and Korra had known each other for most of Korra’s life, but now Pema was looking at her as if she were a stranger.

“And ... you’re sure Tenzin thinks this is fine?” Pema asked.

Korra sighed sadly. “Pema, to be honest, I’m not sure if this is a great idea, either. But I owe him an apology, and there’s something really, really important I need to tell him about Mako that can’t wait.”

Pema nodded and returned to the cell off to the side of her and Tenzin’s bedroom. Korra sat in the bed, fidgeting and occasionally rubbing her arms. When Pema came back with Bolin, Korra tried not to feel hurt when Pema anxiously backed out of the room. That they were even allowing her to talk to him alone was evidence of a trust she didn’t deserve.

Bolin awkwardly stepped closer to Korra. She tried to take shallow breaths. His scent was no longer overpowering, not like that time down in the tunnel, but it was incredibly strong, enough to get distracted by if she let it. It even felt a bit hard to look at him.

“How are you feeling?” Korra asked. She instinctively shifted an inch away from him as he sat next to her on the bed.

Bolin seemed to have noticed what she did, because a sad look grew on his face. “Well, I don’t know,” he shrugged. “As good as anyone can be under a weird, eternal heat that apparently no doctor in the world understands.”

“It can’t be permanent,” Korra said. “I mean, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yeah,” Bolin sighed. “That’s what everyone else says too. I’m just glad the rest periods are a bit longer than in a real heat.”

“How long?” Korra asked.

“The longest so far has been about four hours.” Bolin sighed. He shook his head at Korra’s shocked expression. “I know, right? I feel like I’ve been asleep for longer than that during heats.”

“Well, Tenzin said now that they’ve been tracking Shuchun’s heats they’ve found some of the rest periods have been ...”

“As long as eight hours, yeah, I know. But the doctors said that might be because she’s young, so ...”

Korra nodded. She took a deep breath, flinching a bit at Bolin’s sweet, seductive smell. “Hey, Bolin. I wanted to apologize. What I did was so, so wrong. And ... I really hope you’ll forgive me. Because I’d do anything to take it back.”

Bolin lowered his eyes. “Thanks, Korra, but ...”

Korra heard the door slide open behind them. “Pema, did you want something?” Korra asked as she turned back, but a worried Asami was standing in the doorway.

“Asami, hey!” Bolin said, straining to smile as Asami slammed the door behind her and ran to them. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” she spluttered. “Tenzin just told me about Mako!”

Bolin looked at Korra. “What?”

Korra pressed her lips tightly together and looked up at Asami. “I was going to tell him that next.”

Asami crossed her arms and glared at Korra. Korra rolled her eyes, annoyed. Didn’t Asami understand how painful this was for her?

“Tell me what?” Bolin asked, his voice small.

“Bolin,” Korra grabbed his shoulder, then thought better of it and pulled her hand away. “Kilaun’s hypnotized Mako. I found him at one of Kilaun’s brothels and he attacked me.”

“What?” Bolin cried.

Korra flinched and nodded. “I tried to snap him out of it, but he was like a completely other person. He said things I never thought he’d ever say. He tried to electrocute me. He also ... He also smells kind of like Kilaun now.”

Bolin’s skin had turned three shades paler.

“Tenzin didn’t tell me about the smell,” Asami said in a soft voice.

“I ... I can’t,” Bolin stood up, started to pace. “I mean it’s bad enough that this has been happening to me and he hasn’t been around but now he’s ... now he’s ...”

A new surge of Bolin’s Yin scent filled the room. Korra backed away further from him. Even Asami covered her nose and mouth with her hand.

“Bolin, calm down,” Asami said. “If you don’t calm down, you’ll ...”

The candlestick phone on the side of the bed began to ring. Korra looked at the others briefly, but when they all stared in confusion, she reached to pick it up.

“I’ll get this for Tenzin,” Korra said as she picked the earpiece off the hook and raised the end of the stick to her mouth. “Hello?”

“Hello, Avatar Korra.”

The voice could have made her freeze her own blood, had she the power. “Ma-Mako?” she asked, trying to disguise the waver in her voice, the shocked looks on Bolin and Asami’s faces.

“Kilaun, actually,” Mako’s voice said. “He speaks for his Yang now. Don’t worry, Avatar. I’m on the receiver and can hear every word you say. So spare me the Yin-like begging for him to remember your precious love.”

The snarl came unbidden to Korra’s lips. Bolin reached for the phone, but Asami grabbed his arm back, whispered to him, “Wait.”

“Oooh, how scary,” Kilaun mocked with Mako’s voice. “Though I assure you, Avatar Korra, I’ve dealt with my share of impotent little Yang cubs. It is so fun, truly, the moment where they know they’ve lost.”

“What do you want?” Korra growled.

“Why, a confrontation, of course. A grand battle? Isn’t that what you wanted all along?”

“What I want is you in chains in the dirtiest, most rat-spider-ridden basement cell in Republic City’s Police Station, you monster! ”

“As I was saying, if you do not meet me at Republic City Park tonight and give me back my cub, Avatar Korra, I will force this boy speaking to you right now to ... to cut out his own throat.”

Korra shut her eyes tightly, her hands balling into fists. She heard Asami ask if that was Kilaun on the phone, now. Korra nodded her head rather than give the full explanation. She wanted to start screaming again, but she knew she had to be calm.

“No, Kilaun,” she said, her heart breaking a little. “I don’t know what you’ve done, but I know the real Mako still exists inside this person you’re having talk to me like a coward, and I know he’d never give up Shuchun to save his life.”

Bolin groaned loudly, pulled at his hair. “Why are you not telling us what’s going on? Why?”

A distant laughter – Kilaun’s real voice – came over the speaker. Then a whoosh of flame and a high-pitched scream followed.

“Mako!” the new voice cried. “Mako, please. Please don’t hurt me! Kilaun, help! Make him stop. Please.”

Korra had never heard the voice, but she immediately knew whose it was. There was only one child it could be.

“If you do not agree to my terms,” Mako’s voice said in that awkward, halting way that pained her. “Jiayi burns by your lover’s hand.”

Disgust boiled inside her. “You’d ruin such valuable merchandise?” she spat.

“I can always find more,” Kilaun said through Mako.

“Then why have you gone through all this trouble to keep Jiayi and Shuchun?”

“Because you tried to tell me I couldn’t.” Korra heard Mako’s voice, slow and halting, but beyond that voice, beyond Jiayi’s distant cries, she heard Kilaun too, just a bit. His voice sounded dark and cold.

Asami and Bolin were still staring at her. “Something really bad is happening, isn’t it?” Asami asked.

Korra nodded sadly. She rubbed her eyes and tried to think.

“If I agree to this exchange,” Korra finally said into the phone, “What stops you from ambushing me with your child soldiers again?”

“Nothing.”

“Then I’m bringing the cops with me.”

“I’ll kill them now if you do that,” Mako said. Then after a pause, he said, “But I’m a fair man, Avatar. I’ll leave my cubs at home. You can bring your pack ... or what little is left of it. A fair enough match for my twins, I’m sure you’ll agree. Come at midnight with the girl by the bridge over the lake. A moment too late and the boy dies.”

The line went dead. Korra threw the phone against the wall. Bolin and Asami both flinched as it shattered.

“What happened?” Bolin asked.

Korra snarled and shook her plaster-caked hand. “Kilaun’s demanding we give him Shuchun or he kills Jiyai and maybe Mako. And we have to do it at midnight tonight.”

Bolin gasped. Asami’s eyes widened.

“We have to tell Beifong now,” she said.

“We do that and they’re dead. He’s only allowing you and Bolin to come for the exchange.”

“But we can’t give him Shuchun!” Bolin exclaimed. “And we can’t let him hurt Mako and ... urgh! Why is he so evil?”

Korra didn’t know how to answer, so she sat back on the bed with her head in her hands. Asami walked toward her. Korra lifted her head and looked in Asami’s eyes. She saw a distance there, maybe a bit of anger, but it was an approach nonetheless.

“Do you have any ideas on what to do?”

Korra shook her head. “Not yet, anyway.”

Asami sighed and crossed her arms. “Well, we have some time to think, I guess ...”

Korra nodded. As they stood in silence, Bolin crossed over to the window and looked outside, his palm pressed up against the glass. Korra tried to figure out what to say, but before she could, he walked back to Pema’s cell, his eyes damp.

~*~*~

Their plan was not a good one.

They had thought of a slightly better one, and as they rode in Asami’s car to Republic City Park, Korra still wondered if they should have gone with it. She looked over at large, girl-shaped rock covered in Yin-smelling blankets next to her on the backseat and sighed.

“He’s never going to fall for this,” Asami had told Bolin and Korra as they dressed it up.

“It’s either this or get one of the Airbender kids to dress as Shuchun,” Korra replied. “But after what happened to Mako I don’t want to put them at risk. Kilaun’s going to be just as mad when we didn’t bring her, anyway.”

Asami said if that was the case they might as well have gotten Lin involved, but Korra and Bolin were both still afraid of the possibilities of spies. That Mako/Kilaun had called seemingly knowing that Korra would be available to pick up the phone might not have been a coincidence.

Still, the extra muscle and increased plausibility would have been nice, Korra thought.

Asami parked as near to the bridge as possible. During the day, Republic City Park would have been rimmed with Satomobiles, but during the evening the streets were bare. They walked down the path to the bridge together, Korra in the center carrying the stone Shuchun in her arms.

Kilaun appeared five minutes later, the twins on either side of him. While it was hard to see in glow of the streetlamps along the path, a purple and black bruise bloomed around the twin on the left’s right eye.

“Wonder who gave her that,” Asami whispered.

“Hope it was Mako,” Korra grumbled back.

Bolin didn’t say anything. When Kilaun reached the top of the bridge, stepped into the nearest light, Bolin took a few nervous steps back. Kilaun sniffed the air loudly and smiled.

“So, this is your little pet Yin?” Kilaun sneered. “Not so little ... perhaps it’s not such a surprise that Tukiko failed to kill him.” He sneered the last phrase, made the twin with the black eye flinch. “Although I’m rather impressed you resisted the urge to mount him thus far. Leaves another one pure for me.”

Korra bit back a snarl, frowned as she stepped forward. “I have Shuchun here, Kilaun.”

But when Kilaun stepped forward to take the bundle, Korra stepped back. “No.”

Kilaun raised an eyebrow. “‘No’?”

“Why should we give up Shuchun for nothing? How do we know you won’t just kill her and her brother when we give her back?”

“That’s none of your business now, Avatar!” Tukiko spat. Tukiyo seemed to shudder at her sister’s words, however.

Korra pressed on, trying to keep to the script the three of them had worked out before they came here. “I want a trade, Kilaun. We’ll give you Shuchun, but give us back Mako.”

Kilaun rolled his eyes, but then seemed to remember himself and smiled again. “Mako!” he called out. “Come to me, son.”

Korra heard soft footsteps coming from behind Kilaun. He and the twins stepped aside, and Mako came up the path and into the light.

Kilaun had found new clothes for him, if you could call it that. A black vest hung from Mako’s shoulders – red fastenings held it in place but left it loose enough that Korra could see Mako’s bare skin where the vest split – and flared out at his hips to stop at the length of his knees. The pants were like most in the Republic City fashion – loose fitting above tight black and gray boots. He still wore his scarf, but his short fingerless gloves had been replaced by long fingerless black ones much like a pair Korra had back at the South Pole.

“Impressed, Avatar?” Kilaun asked as Mako slid next to him. Kilaun wrapped a hand around Mako’s waist and held out his cheek for Mako to kiss. “What do you think of the new Mako?”

Bolin shuddered. Korra dug her heels into the ground and her fingers tighter into the stone doll so she wouldn’t have to punch him.

“I think your dress sense is tacky,” Asami said.

Kilaun roared with laughter. “Your father couldn’t resist a petty insult when cornered, either.” He turned to Mako. “Now, my son, do you want to go with this Yang?”

Mako leaned into Kilaun’s touch, although his dead eyes were still pointed in Korra’s direction. “No, father.”

Korra’s eyes widened. “Father?”

Both she and Asami turned to Bolin.

Bolin shook his head fiercely. “Hey, I’ll admit I don’t remember much about my Dad, but he is definitely – definitely – not that guy.”

Korra had had enough of this. She growled and rushed forward, dipping the stone Shuchun low to the ground before slamming it up hard against Kilaun’s chin. Kilaun reeled backward from the blow, chin and nose bloodied. Korra leapt up in the air and thrust her hands forward in two fists as she landed, using her earthbending to send the stone doll flying straight at Kilaun and knocking him far back down the road. He tumbled head over heels as he went.

The twins turned toward the three of them, dropped into fighting stance. “You tricked us!” Tukiyo shouted.

“Don’t be a fool,” Kilaun sneered as he pushed himself to his feet. He spat a mix of blood and saliva on the ground. “If she said Mako wouldn’t trade his life for the girl it’s because she wouldn’t, either. Now do what I order you to do and attack! Now!”

The Pack had had this planned, ran immediately to a chosen opponent. Asami dug her heels into the ground and put her fists in front of her face as the twins sent pebbles and water flying her way. Kilaun knocked hard against Korra’s stomach with his shoulder. And Mako stepped in front of Bolin, ready to fight.

Korra tried to fight defensively, answering Kilaun’s blow after ear-rattling blow with blocks assisted by earthbending and offense through firebending. Once in a while, her eyes darted to the lake, and a plan formed.

I need to make this work and do it fast, Korra thought as she ducked low after another punch. She screamed and punched the ground, loosening the dirt beneath Kilaun’s feet. As she followed it up with an air blast, she spared a moment to look at her allies. For a non-bender with her principal weapon broken, Asami was doing her best – swerving away from the twins’ projectiles and occasionally getting in a punch or block – but she would need help soon.

Bolin, meanwhile, was trying to do what Korra hadn’t, and she wasn’t sure it was working.

He had his hands up around his head, was walking toward Mako. “Don’t you recognize me?” he pleaded. “Come on, Mako. It’s me. It’s Bolin.”

Mako growled and sent fiery punches and kicks after Bolin. The younger brother dodged them deftly, shimmying and occasionally flipping forward or backward over a fireball. Despite how awful she felt over seeing them battle, Korra was impressed. The heat’s remission might have been temporary, but it was enough to bring Bolin back up to full fighting ability.

“Mako, listen!” Bolin cried. “I know you’re in there somewhere—yaah!” Bolin ducked as a fireball sailed over his head. “Come on. Try to remember me.”

Korra heard Asami scream. Tukiyo had gotten Asami’s hands behind her back, was holding her steady as Tukiko started punching her in the face and stomach.

“Fall!” Tukiko yelled in Asami’s face. “Fall, you witch!”

Kilaun roared and grabbed onto Korra’s hands, twisting them back hard enough that Korra thought she would break. Korra screamed at first, but then focused the heat through her hands, setting them aflame. Kilaun reared back with a snarl.

Korra breathed hard a few times, then slipped into the Avatar State. She used her airbending to leap high into the air, brought her feet close together on her descent to hit Kilaun hard in the chest. He fell down again with a splash into the lake. When Korra got on her feet, she waved her hands back and then forward in front of her, breathing out in a cold blast that froze the lake solid with Kilaun inside.

Kilaun snarled as Korra left the Avatar State. “You can’t hold me here forever, Avatar!” He growled and flexed against the ice. It started to crack.

“I don’t have to,” Korra said.

She raced to Asami and the twins, thrusting out her shoulder so she tackled Tukiko to the ground. The young woman fell with a cry.

“Tukiko!”

Korra turned around at the sound of Tukiyo’s voice, only to meet with a water whip wrapping around her neck. The whip was strong, but unstable, and when Asami took the opportunity of Tukiyo’s distraction to punch the girl in the face, it shattered. Korra tried to head to help Bolin, but a slab of earth hit her face as Tukiko attacked.

When Tukiko swung at her a second time, Korra caught her opponent by the wrists. Tukiko stomped on the ground, creating enough of an earthbending spike to hit Korra in the shins but not enough to let her go.

“You’re not so tough!” Tukiko growled. She wrenched away hard, breaking of Korra’s grasp. “You see that, Tukiyo? I’m not scared of you, Avatar!”

What was this all about? Korra dodged the pebbles that came flying at her head, the spikes that sprouted up erratically from the ground, growing more frustrated by the minute. One of them managed to trip Korra and Tukiko was on top of her. She had a large stone between her hands, was trying to press it into Korra’s chest with earthbending while Korra pushed it back. Meanwhile, Korra could hear the ice cracking as Kilaun continued to break free.

Don’t think about it, Korra told herself. Put the twins down and get to Bolin. You have to! Now!

A blast of lightning cut through the noise of the battles. Korra looked over to see Bolin sprawled on the ground. He was still conscious but his clothes were singed in places, the skin on his chin scratched and his elbows bleeding. Mako loomed over him, his fingers crackling with blue energy.

“Please,” Bolin begged as he scrambled to his feet. “You have to remember everything we’ve been through. Sleeping under bridges. Running with the triads. Snitching food when the shopkeepers weren’t looking. And through it all we were always together. You were always ...” Bolin gulped. “... always there to protect me.”

Mako stared back at Bolin, his face cold and impassive. Bolin held out his arms to Mako. His hands shook as he reached for his older brother.

“Please,” Bolin begged. “Please, Mako, remember me. Please ... I love you.”

Mako ‘s dead eyes looked in the direction of Bolin’s hands. He raised his gaze to meet Bolin’s, and then he glared.

Mako snarled as he slapped Bolin’s hands away. Bolin tried to run backwards, run out of Mako’s reach, but Mako soon had his hands around Bolin’s throat, kicked his shins so Bolin was kneeling on the ground and choking.

“I remember you, little brother,” Mako hissed. He brought his face down to Bolin’s, so close that their noses were almost touching. “My weak, stupid, whiny, useless little brother.”

Bolin’s eyes widened. “Wh-What?”

Mako laughed cruelly. “Oh yes, all our wonderful times together. How many times did I save you from something stupid you did? How much money did I pour into buying you suppressants and clothes? How much food did I steal for you so you could eat it all at once or waste it on a pet? And that’s supposed to remind me of how much I love you?” Mako lifted Bolin up above his head by the chin, smiled widely as Bolin choked and kicked in his grasp. “You were a burden on me, Bolin, and nothing would make me happier than being free of you forever.”

Asami realized what was happening before Korra did. “No!” she screamed. She had had Tukiyo in a headlock, threw her on the ground and started sprinting toward Mako.

It was all happening too fast. Korra slipped into the Avatar state, pushed Tukiko away. Asami had gotten to Mako, had her arms wrapped around his neck and upper torso. Korra flew to Bolin and yanked him out of Mako’s grasp and to the ground while Asami pulled Mako back hard so that his fireballs blew harmlessly up into the air.

When Korra had slipped out of the Avatar State again, she looked at Bolin. His scent was strong in her nose, but the dull shock on his face, his glossy eyes, were still what was getting his attention.

“Bolin,” Korra cupped her hands under his chin and turned his face toward her. “Bolin, are you okay?”

Bolin sniffled hard. Tears streamed from his eyes. “What?” he asked.

A loud crack rang through the air. Korra looked around her. Asami was standing opposite Mako, her arms raised and ready to go another round, but the twins were approaching. Then there was Kilaun pulling himself from the frozen lake, icicles still clinging to his dreadlocks.

Kilaun laughed: a low, rumbling sound that made Korra’s skin crawl. Asami walked backward toward Korra, her fists still up. But Bolin sat on the ground as their four opponents approached them. Korra pulled at his arm, but he wouldn’t get up to fight.

Korra stared at them all: at those beautiful, smug twins that had been such an endless frustration these past few weeks; at the corrupted husk of the boy she still loved so much it made her heart ache to look at him; but mostly she looked at Kilaun.

She took all of him in: his size, his power, his smell. The sharpness of his teeth and the corded veins of his thick hands. The modern Republic City suit that still fit him like a glove even when wet and that old fashioned wolf’s head that was supposed to be the mark of heroes. Once a man named Amon had been her enemy, and she had been afraid of him. But when Korra looked at Kilaun, she didn’t feel fear.

She felt hate - hate that started deep in her stomach and bubbled up in her throat so thick she could taste it. Hate so strong it pushed out everything else. During the Anti-Bender rebellion she never hated non-benders, but she hated this non-bender more than anyone she had ever known. To her Kilaun was everything loathsome, everything horrible about the world. He was everything shameful about her culture, everything gauche and ridiculous about the new world, every cruelty ascribed to Yangs, every bit of condescension she had ever felt from men.

And Korra knew that she couldn’t beat him today, and that made her hate him even more.

Korra looked at Asami, and they were both as of one mind in that moment. They took Bolin by the arms over their shoulders and started running to the car. Korra heard Mako and the twins’ steps behind them, but she could tell Kilaun wasn’t among him. She didn’t hear his steps but his awful laughter, receding in the distance.

It only took them a few minutes to get to the car, but just as Korra was about to load the still-stunned Bolin into the car, Asami groaned and punched the hood.

“They slashed the tires!”

“What?” Korra looked at where Asami was pointing. The tires had become so flat the rims were touching the pavement.

Korra looked around. Mako and the twins were still coming over the hill, but it wouldn’t be long before they fought again.

“We have to keep running,” Asami said, hopelessness and fatigue already creeping into her voice.

Korra sighed. She slipped into the Avatar State. The huge blast of airbending she sent at the three was enough to stop them from approaching, and an earthbending blast knocked them on the ground and put a wall in their way, but the third use of the Avatar State in such a short period of the time was wearing on Korra. As she and Asami hoisted Bolin’s arms back onto their shoulders and ran, she wondered how to keep going.

~*~*~

“Rules are rules, lady.” The conductor was a male Yang, light-brown skinned with a large, warty nose. “No Yins in heat on the trolley.”

“He’s not in heat,” Asami said. Korra could tell she was trying to be polite but Asami still couldn’t keep some of the frustration out of her voice. “He’s just sick. Look, my car broke down and we need to get back home. There’s hardly anyone on the trolley at this time of night so if you just ... ”

Korra let out a loud groan of frustration from where she sat on the curb, a few paces away from where Bolin had sat down and folded his arms and legs in on himself. “Just stand aside and let me hit him, already!”

The conductor glared and pulled the latch on the door, closing it in Asami’s face. Asami’s face fell as she watched it speed down the track. But when she turned back she was angry. “Thanks a lot, Korra!”

“Oh, please,” Korra patted clean the back of her pelt as she stood up. “That guy was a jerk. He was never going to let us on that stupid trolley.”

“You didn’t have to threaten him!”

“Well ...” Korra frowned and crossed her arms. “Well, it made me feel better!”

Asami rolled her eyes. “And that’s the most important thing here, right?”

Korra sighed. This stunk and she wasn’t making anything better by arguing, she knew, but after being rejected by every taxi and trolley and pedi-cab she was tired and frustrated and since she couldn’t fight Kilaun she really, really wanted to punch someone.

“Just put me into a safehouse,” Bolin muttered. “You two go home.”

Korra groaned and shook her head. “Bolin, we’ve already told you that we’re not going to leave you alone where we can’t protect you.”

“Korra’s right,” Asami approached Bolin and laid a hand on his shoulder. “And if this heat does last forever, they may not let you out, or they may put you in a hospital where the pack can find you.”

Bolin ripped himself away. “I don’t care!”

Asami made a noise of disgust. “Stop that! This isn’t the time to give up!”

Korra sighed. “Let’s just find another way back to the island.”

But as they walked and walked, trying to keep along uneven routes to cover their tracks, they only grew more and more tired. Eventually even Asami lost heart, and she suggested they find a cheap hotel to stop for the night.

The very sight of the Jade Plum’s rotted exterior creeped Korra out, and the spider-rat laden interior and bent, elderly Yang who drooled over Bolin from behind the front desk was enough to make her skin crawl. They all agreed that it would be best if all of them stayed in separate rooms, although Korra’s was across from Bolin’s and Asami’s was next to it.

Korra hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in real bed in a very long time. Yet she didn’t sleep easy. Strange dreams haunted her. She imagined herself lying in bed in a red and gold room, her clitoris hard and her body wet. Then there was a scent in the air, and in her mind it was a Yang scent and yet it smelled so wonderfully, so deliciously Yin.

Stay asleep, Korra tried to tell herself. This’ll be easier if you’re asleep.

But it was a losing battle. The walls were too thin, and as Korra regained consciousness Bolin’s heat was the first thing she registered. It automatically went to work on her body, making her hard and frustrated with lust.

Korra grabbed the pillow from underneath her head and pressed it over her face. The scent was still present. She dug her face into it harder, reached a hand inside her pants and yanked on her stiff clitoris. Korra kept her grip firm and hard, trying to make the knot grow, trying to bring herself to orgasm and break the hold that Bolin’s heat on her.

Korra dug her toes into the sheets. This was so hard. She was so hard. Thoughts of her clitoris deep inside a Yin, so wet and tight and satisfying, swirled in her mind. Unbidden, she thought of being back with Bolin in that cave ... how he felt so warm as she sucked his chest and so wet as she thrust her hard clit against him.

“No!” Korra yelled into the pillow. Good Yangs were strong and in self-control. Good Yangs didn’t hurt Yins. She didn’t hurt Yins.

Yet the scent was so intoxicating. Korra could feel her mouth water. She was in a whole different room, wasn’t she? There was no harm in smelling ... Korra removed the pillow and got up from the bed, stripping off down to her undergarments as she walked to the wall that separated her and Bolin’s rooms. She lifted a leg up and ground against the wall, taking in the smell. Part of her realized how dumb she must look. The rest of her was disgusted with herself, but she couldn’t seem to stop.

“Adolescent ...” Korra grunted. “Adolescent inability to control your hormones ...”

A wave of shame broke over her. When she shut her eyes she didn’t see herself and Bolin this time. Instead she saw Mako, saw Kilaun wrap his huge hand along the black fabric that clung to Mako’s hips. Korra slid down to her knees, slammed her fists three times against the wall and let out a noise that was equal parts cry of anger and wail.

“K ... Korra?”

Korra’s mouth dropped open in horror. Bolin had heard her. Oh no. “I ... I’m sorry. Oh Bolin, I’m so sorry. I’ll get out of here. I’ll take a cab and come back tomorrow. If you need help, just ask Asam—”

“I’ve unlocked my door, Korra.”

Korra suddenly felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “Wh ... What?”

“I can’t fight it anymore,” Bolin said, his voice wavering on the edge of breaking completely. “I can’t. It doesn’t end, Korra. I can barely think half the time. I can’t even sleep.”

“B-Bolin ...” She tried to stand up on wobbly legs, thought of running out of the room and out of the hotel and never looking back. “Bolin, I’m sorry. This will get better, I ...”

“How?” Bolin screamed, almost cried the word from the other side of the wall. “My body’s a mess and my brother hates me and I just feel awful every single minute of the day and nobody knows what to do.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Korra said, although she wasn’t sure how. “You just have to stay strong ...”

Bolin broke down into long, heaving sobs. Korra hung her head, covered her ears. Her heart was pounding in time to the urging of her body. She had to go back to bed. She had to try to cover herself and forget this ever happened.

“I wanted him,” Bolin choked on the words.

The words were muffled, but they were enough to make Korra sick. She removed her hands from her ears. “What?”

“I know what you said about Kilaun but being in his presence ... It’s ... It’s overwhelming. If I got any closer to him I might have gone into heat right away. And when he said he wanted me pure I just ...” Bolin sobbed miserably, but Korra was already running toward the door.

Bolin’s room was unlocked. When she opened it she saw him curled up against the wall. Korra had Bolin in her arms within the instant, threw him with such force down onto the bed that it creaked as he landed. She leaped up onto the bed, started tearing open his shirt.

“Not him,” Bolin begged as he curled his torso up, let Korra pull his shirt off his arms. “He can’t take this from me. Don’t let him touch me, Korra, please.”

“Never,” Korra agreed. She had the waistband of Bolin’s pants in her hands, pulled them off as Bolin lifted his hips. She lowered her own pants around her knees before getting in between Bolin’s thighs.

Bolin wrapped his arms around her neck. “I really am a burden.”

“Don’t say that.” Korra plunged inside Bolin. She could already feel her knot growing as her clitoris was drenched in his fluids. She wasn’t going to last long.

Still, Korra rode Bolin hard. He groaned with every thrust she made, gripped her ever tighter. Sometimes his hand would slip and he’d accidentally scratch Korra, but she didn’t care. She was sure she must be hurting him, but he never asked her to stop. In fact, his body only seemed to become more pliant and malleable, let her in more and more easily. She wrapped her fingers in Bolin’s hair, pulled so that his neck was stretched back and scratched her teeth against the pale expanse of skin.

There were a few times in this brief, violent space of time that Korra felt guilty, or would mourn that this wasn’t the way she’d wanted to lose her virginity. Yet instinct and blood and nature outweighed her sense and higher virtues. Her body was doing what it wanted, what it needed. The greedy, monstrous need in her – the Yang need – wanted to be inside this Yin, wanted to have this Yin crave her. Sometimes she even imagined getting him pregnant.

And yet above even all that one stupid, ridiculous, satisfying thought kept her going: that her scent was on Bolin, that Bolin was hers, that Kilaun could take Mako but he wouldn’t have Bolin. Or Shuchun. Or Asami or the airbender children or any of her friends and she would show him. She would fight him and destroy him and bring him to his knees because he was not the superior Yang. It was her. It was her. It would always be here.

“Ah! Ah-Ahhhh!” Korra screamed as she came. She could feel herself shooting into Bolin, reveled in how he whimpered in pleasure with every squirt.

Even as she came, she knew Bolin wasn’t finished. She kept on thrusting, watching him writhe on her knot. Sometimes she wished she could pull away, but there was no escape now, no trying deny what she had done or wanted to do.

“Harder ...” Bolin whispered, his voice raspy. “Please, Korra, harder.”

Korra gritted her teeth and thrust into him as hard as she could, hard enough that she swore she might have hit his cervix a few times. She rode him until she was short of breath, until her arms and her knees ached and froze up. Then she kept going.

It wasn’t enough. At some point she had stopped, her arms locked against the headboard over Bolin’s head. She stared down at him, sweaty and tired.

“I’m sorry,” she said, finally. “I tried. I really did.”

“It’s okay ...,” Bolin said, even though Korra could hear the disappointment in his voice.

Still knotted inside him, Korra laid down on top of Bolin. They both shuffled to the side, slept fitfully in each other’s arms. Sometimes in the night Korra could feel Bolin pulling against her, trying to get some pleasure from the engorged knot, but Bolin was exhausted as she was, and soon they were both asleep.

When Korra woke up hours later, her knot had gone down. Bolin still smelled enticing, but exhaustion and disappointment dulled her will, and for hours she laid there wanting without doing. When the sun started to rise, Bolin stirred again. As he woke up, Korra spread his legs apart, rubbed her growing clitoris against him. Bolin ran his fingers through the remnants of Korra’s ponytail – which hand come half-apart in the night – then kissed her all over her face and neck.

The door behind them creaked as it opened. When Korra and Bolin looked back at it, Asami stood in the doorway.

Korra opened her mouth to say something, but before she could think of anything, Asami had already turned away and slammed the door.

~*~*~

There was no point in trying again after that, and while Bolin wasn’t exactly satisfied or smelled any better at least he wasn’t as desperate as before.

The both of them dressed and went down to the lobby. When they got there, however, the man at the booth said their rooms had already been paid for in full.

Korra wasn’t surprised, but was still confused when she saw Asami outside the hotel, her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

“Um ... hey,” Bolin said to her.

“Hi,” Asami turned and walked down the street without looking at them. “Let’s go find a shop where we can fix my car.”

Korra and Bolin followed her for a few blocks, although eventually the weight of the silence grew too great for Korra. She moved in closer to Asami.

“Thank you,” Korra said. “I didn’t expect you to stay at the hotel after that. I’m sorry I upset you.”

“Why would anything you do upset me?” Asami said, her voice distressingly lifeless. “We’re not friends.”

Korra stared at Asami’s back in a numb shock as the girl walked on ahead. 

End Part 9.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry for George R. R. Martin-ing you. Life got in the way. The next chapter I hope to finish a lot sooner. Thanks for coming back!


	10. Chapter 10

~*~*~

One week earlier, Mako awoke in chains.

He didn’t know where he was, or how long he had been there, although the pain in his joints told him it must have been hours at the very least, and when he rolled his ankle in its cuff and felt it scream in protest from the sprain he’d gotten during his fight with Kilaun, he could tell it hadn’t been more than a day at the very most. His wrists were pinned behind him at the small of his back, barely a foot above where his ankles had been chained. A metal grill mask – something that allowed him to breathe but not firebend without getting hurt – was strapped to his mouth. When he tried to stand up on his knees, he found the wrist and ankle chains were connected, held him in that painful position. He looked back behind him and saw that those chains were also nailed into the gray, brick wall.

Mako sat back down and tried to get his bearings. He was in a cell. That much was clear. They’d placed straw underneath him, but not much else. The cell had no amenities – not even a window. The door didn’t look too thick, but it was on the far side of the room, and he was in no position to escape at the moment. He wondered how long they planned to keep him here, or even if they planned to keep him here at all.

If they wanted to kill me they would have done it already, Mako thought. Then again, Kilaun definitely had a sadistic streak.

Mako let his eyes slip close. It was hard not to feel ashamed of himself. It wasn’t just that he had lost the battle, but that he had been so afraid, that he had allowed Kilaun to get under his skin. Kilaun was strong and powerful, but that might not be the worst part about him.

Mako felt his eyes flutter closed. Nothing to do but wait. When he lived on the streets he knew of gang members and other street ruffians who had a talent for slipping out of even the most impregnable cages. Mako always thought the best thing to do was not get caught in the first place. He wondered what he and Bolin would have done if they ever had been. Would he be better prepared now? Or would he have just never escaped to begin with?

Thoughts of the past brought back an old dream, an old memory. He was walking down Peachtree Road in the Triple Threat territory, not far from the safehouse where he had dropped off Bolin for the night. Ever since then, he had wondered if he was being followed, but now he was sure of it. He looked back, expecting a member of the Triple Threats or some thug from the neighboring triads, but instead saw a well-dressed, handsome man in his early 20s with pale skin and wavy, black hair. He smiled warmly.

“Hey there, kid,” he said. “Nice night, isn’t it?”

Mako rolled his eyes hard and scoffed. Then he turned and kept walking. Be obnoxious, he told himself. Seem like you’re too much trouble and they’ll leave you alone.

The man followed after him, jogging this time. “Come on. I’m just trying to talk to you.”

“Buzz off, creep.” Mako felt the man’s hand on his shoulder. He growled and whirled back to him, his fist aflame. “I’m telling you, go away!”

The man stared at the fire, then looked at Mako. A grin slowly grew on his face. “A firebender and an in-between, too? Sexy.”

Mako’s skin crawled. The man stepped closer, and his Yang scent hit Mako’s nose. Mako growled and his flame grew hotter. 

The man stepped back, raised his hands up. “Come on, kid. No need to get upset. I’m just making you an offer.”

“Well, I’m not for sale.”

“Oh, no?” The man’s left eyebrow perked up as he asked. “Everyone’s for sale, kid. You just need to know the price. And considering I just saw you put your brother in a safehouse, can you afford to say no?”

Mako’s flame flickered. He pulled away slightly and the man bowed.

“My name is Yaozu,” he said. “Here’s my wager. Ten thousand yen for a night with me. That should pay for your brothers’ suppressants for a year, shouldn’t it?”

Mako lowered his hand, let the flame go out. Ten thousand yen? I’m not worth that much, he thought, his heart sinking a little bit. It was hard to say no, but ...

“Look, I just don’t do stuff like that,” Mako said, worrying the edge of his scarf with one of his hands.

“You’re the good orphan boy, then?” Yaozu asked with a smile. “Never done anything wrong? Never did a favor for one of the triads? Never cut cards? Run numbers? Filched food?”

Mako frowned, his cheeks turning red. “Hey, that’s ... that’s different. I’m not ...”

“A prostitute? Is warming a Yang’s bed somehow less noble than taking their food or encouraging them to gamble away their hard-earned money? Why take when you can give like any normal citizen?”

Mako tried to protest, but Yaozu’s argument had a certain logic. Then Yaozu clapped a hand on his shoulder. Mako shuddered, tried to resist igniting his hand, and yet Yaozu’s smell was intriguing him in ways he didn’t like to admit. “Is it being treated like a prostitute that bothers you?” he asked. “You look like you haven’t had a good meal in a while. What if I bought you one? And a night at the theater?”

Mako glared at Yaozu, even though he could feel his face getting hot. “Why?”

“Why not? It’s in my interest to be kind to the less fortunate, especially those as attractive as you.”

Yaozu held out his hand.

A slap on the cheek woke Mako up. When his eyes opened, Kilaun stood in front of him, his sharp-toothed grin only an inch from his face.

“Hello, son,” Kilaun purred.

Mako reared back from Kilaun’s intense smell. Ugh, if only the mask they had put on him could stop that, too. Kilaun’s hand snaked up the side of his chin, back behind his head. Then hard fingers gripped his neck, holding him steady.

“Were you lonely, my boy?” Kilaun asked, running his free hand along the line where the skin met his mask. “Don’t worry. My girls will be bringing the rest of your friends back here soon enough.”

Mako frowned. He tried to pull away, but Kilaun just held him tighter, dug his nails into his back. The thought suddenly occurred to Mako that his scarf had been removed. It must have got lost in the fight, he thought sadly, although he realized that was the least of his problems now.

“What do you plan to do with us?”

Kilaun laughed. His grip was tight enough to really hurt now. “Oh, we’re going to have fun, Mako.” He leaned closer, took a loud sniff of him. Mako tried to pull away but Kilaun grabbed his torso, tried to wrestle him back against the wall.

The door opened with a loud squeak. Both Mako and Kilaun turned to look. The twins stood in the doorway. Both were dripping wet. The one on the left wore Air Nomad clothes which hung loosely about her shoulders. Her dark hair had also fallen loose, lay flat against her neck and back. The other twinwas in her ordinary clothes, but she had pieces of ice stuck to her cheongsam and in her hair.

Kilaun wasn't smiling anymore. A low snarl rumbled in the back of his throat. “What happened?”

The twins looked at each other. The one in the Air Nomad clothes gave the other a hard push. “You tell him, Tukiyo.”

“What? Why do I have to?” Tukiyo pushed her sister back. “You tell him!”

“You’re the one who lost!” Push.

“You’re the older one and I don’t see you with the guy you were supposed to catch.” Push back.

The twins descended into loud squabbling. Kilaun stood up and yanked the both of them away from each other. “Enough! Tukiko, speak.”

Tukiko stood up straighter, the frustration plain on her face. “Fine. It’s very simple, Kilaun.” She pointed to her sister. “Tukiyo failed to capture Asami.”

Tukiyo raised a finger into the air. “Hey, I almost had her, okay? Knocked her out and everything. The Avatar somehow found out what we were doing and stopped me with, like this big ... octopus ... water ... thing ...” She waved her arms around in an attempt to demonstrate but Kilaun just glared back at her, unmoved. “Then the Avatar froze me and left me for the police.”

Kilaun let out a loud, displeased snort. “And how did you escape the authorities?”

“Oh ... well, I didn’t. Eventually the ice just melted and I walked away.”

Kilaun rolled his eyes and turned to Tukiko. Mako felt a little relieved about Asami, but he wasn’t looking forward to hearing what she had to say about Bolin.

“Well, I’m ...” Tukiko coughed. “I ... I regret that I was not able to capture Bolin alive ... and Tukiyo will say it’s true, the Avatar and her friends did chase after me as well, but Bolin won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Mako bit his lip, tried to keep himself from freaking out.

Kilaun glared. “You said he was primed to take our bait.”

“And he did!” Tukiko insisted. “He used our serum like I thought he would! I almost ... I did beat him! I knocked him off the cliffs of Air Temple Island.”

Mako smiled beneath his mesh mask. He could smell Kilaun’s scent growing stronger as he grew angrier. 

“And did you check for a body?” Kilaun asked.

Tukiko’s eyes widened. She seemed to realize her mistake now, too. “Um, well ... I-I ... I believed ...”

“‘I-I-I-I-I,’” Kilaun mocked. Then he started yelling at her. “You believed he was dead? You were fighting an idiot athlete who’s paid to get hit in the face and fall into water and you didn’t check for the body?”

Good going, Bolin, Mako thought. This was the happiest Mako had felt since he’d been captured.

“Kilaun, I –”

The big man grabbed onto Tukiko’s wrist and pulled her toward him. Mako’s schadenfreude turned to horror as Kilaun’s huge fist slammed into Tukiko’s eye. The young woman cried out and collapsed to her knees, her hands clasped over her eye.

“Tukiko!” Tukiyo tried to bend down and hug her sister, but Tukiko pushed her away. She stood up and looked at Kilaun, one eye already starting to turn black and swell shut and the other filled with tears.

“I apologize, Kilaun,” Tukiko said, trying to keep the waver out of her voice.

“I don’t want apologies. If I wanted a wench to snivel and cry I would have gotten a Yin to work for me. I want results.”

“I ... I ...” Tukiko coughed. “I can return to the island if you wish and see if he’s ...”

“No, you fool. Toph Beifong’s whelp will have her metal pack crawling all over the island by the time you return. We’re going to have to work with what we’ve got.” Kilaun’s eyes crawled up and down Mako’s body. “Get the serum.”

“For him?” Tukiyo asked, her voice quiet and squeaky. “But does it work on – ”

“It’s time to find out,” Kilaun said.

The twins bowed, giving Kilaun a formal salute with their hands. As they left, Kilaun gave Mako a look that reminded him of a wolf about to pounce on a rabbit. Mako hoped it was only Kilaun’s helmet that made him think that way.

Then Kilaun was gone. Then the twins were back. Tukiyo held the syringe while Tukiko pushed Mako’s shoulders against the wall, pinning him while Tukiyo undid his belt.

A suppressant? Mako thought, although then he remembered what Tukiko had said about bait. He tried to struggle, to worm away. He even tried firebending right before the needle went in but it stung too much in his bonds. Then Tukiyo pushed in the plunger.

Tukiko slammed Mako back against the wall. Then they both walked away, leaving him.

For a few minutes, all Mako could feel was the black, tense pit of fear in his stomach. He didn’t recognize what was happening at first, because it didn’t make sense that he should be feeling aroused at a time like this, but when he felt the wetness trickle out of him he couldn’t ignore it. The feeling started to grow stronger. At first it was annoying, then it was all-encompassing, then it started to hurt.

“Is this what it was like for you, all this time?” he asked the empty room a half-hour later, when his underpants were soaked and his penis stood up painfully hard beneath his clothes. “It sucks, bro ... It really ... really sucks.”

And that was when Mako started to scream.

~*~*~

The food wasn’t that nice. Yaozu had brought him to a meat bowl stand. Bowls of meat – usually pig-chicken or sheep-cow over rice topped with cabbage and raw eggs – were considered an Earth Kingdom comfort food, and in some of the best restaurants in the city Fire Nation-trained cooks made a popular variant with spices and fire flakes. Yet most people in United Republic knew only the cheap imitations sold at the stands, which were mostly rice with sparse, overcooked cheap meat and few limp peppers. In what constituted as “good” times, Mako could have easily bought the bowls himself, but he supposed it was nice to have one for free.

He remembered very little of the vaudeville show that came after: the perky Fire Nation tap dancer, the boring Water Tribe juggler who may have dropped one of her balls during the act, the dark-haired comedian who eventually had to be pulled offstage with an oversized cane. Yet he remembered Yaozu’s hand on his knee, his overpowering scent, how Yaozu gently cupped his hand under Mako’s chin and touched his lips to his.

~*~*~

“No! No! Get away!”

Mako thrashed in his bonds, just as he had the first time, just as he did every time. But eventually the twins took hold of him once again, put the needle and the plunger and the curse inside him.

He was never, ever going to be jealous of any Yin again, he decided as he felt the sexual fever course through him. Or any Yang for that matter. He’d been aroused before, had sometimes felt he could even enjoy Korra’s ruts before those anxious, inevitable times where he would freeze up, but even if desire flared up in him unexpectedly he still always felt like he had some choice in how he could react to it. This wasn’t anything like that. This was some gaping maw of hunger that had a mind of its own, that subsumed all of his real thoughts to it, that never seemed to go away.

The twins rested against the wall opposite Mako as the serum started to work its way through his body.

“Wasn’t it supposed to last longer?” Tukiyo asked. “Like a few days?”

“I’m guessing it just works that way for Yins,” Tukiko reached into her bag and pulled out some stone marbles. A smirk crossed her face as she flicked one at Mako. He flinched as it hit him in the stomach. It wasn’t a hard hit – but that was because she meant it to be irritating. It was when he tried to dodge the stones that Tukiko would get mad and try to hurt him. She flicked another one at him. “Hey, did you give him some water before?”

“No,” Mako answered.

“I didn’t ask you!” Tukiko’s rock hit him right in an old bruise Kilaun gave him. Mako groaned. He should have expected that, but honestly couldn’t help himself.

Tukiyo sighed and opened her skein. She bent some water his way, and Mako opened his mouth as it came through the sieve. This wasn’t a particularly comfortable way to drink, and Tukiyo was sloppy so some of the water would drop onto his chest, but at least they were giving him water. They never fed him; Mako guessed they wanted to deplete his energy to the point where he couldn’t firebend.

Whatever. He knew how to starve.

“Is your eye any better?” Tukiyo asked as she bent the rest of the water back into the skein.

Tukiko shrugged. “It’d be fine if someone learned healbending.”

Tukiyo rolled her eyes. “Oh, this again. ‘Just learn healbending.’ Why doesn’t someone else just learn metalbending, huh?”

“Because metalbending is a rare discipline among earthbenders that requires special training and six-year-old girls sitting in caves in the Northern Water Tribe can learn healbending. Doofus.”

“You’re the doofus!”

Mako closed his eyes and groaned internally. At first he thought listening to them talk was at least distracting him from the serum’s effects, but now he wished he could bury his head in the soiled straw beneath him.

Tukiko snorted. “One of the Yins downstairs can probably heal my eye better than you. You should be ashamed. It’s not like I’m asking you to learn bloodbending.”

“I should learn bloodbending.” Tukiyo puffed out her chest. “Then I could bloodbend your face and then I’d be the pretty one!”

“You could bloodbend my face until I looked like Fire Lord Zuko and you still wouldn’t be the pretty one.”

Tukiyo pushed her sister. Tukiko pushed back, but unlike before, she started laughing. When Tukiyo returned the push again she was laughing too. Mako had heard the twins laugh before. They sounded triumphant then, haughty and sinister. Now they sounded like they were having fun – like girls, like sisters. At one point they stopped pushing and hugged each other, laughing until tears rolled down their face.

Mako still hated them. But he also missed Bolin. He missed Bolin a lot.

“What are you doing?”

Mako’s stomach clenched. The girls immediately separated and stood stiffly as Kilaun walked inside the cell.

Tukiko coughed. “W-We were ...”

“ ‘W-We were ...’ We were what? Acting like fools when you’re supposed to be doing your jobs?”

“It’s just having a bit of fun, Kilaun.” Tukiyo said, her voice squeaky.

“Are you children? I wouldn’t think a 19-year-old who lets Yangs mount her for a living would be a child, would you?”

Tukiyo’s cheeks reddened. Tukiko grabbed onto her forearm.

“We were just leaving,” Tukiko said, pulling her younger sister behind her. Although she did take time to flick another pebble in Mako’s direction, hitting his knee, before they walked out.

Mako breathed deeply as Kilaun turned to him. The floor shook a bit with Kilaun’s strides. His scent hit Mako like a wall, and despite his best efforts he felt his penis stiffen and twitch. He crouched in on himself.

“Trying to hide? Why? I know what you’re thinking, what you’re craving.”

Mako felt his cheeks turn red. Kilaun ran a hand along his chest. He gulped hard. “Why don’t you just get it over with?”

Kilaun raised an eyebrow. “Get what over with?”

“Raping me.” Mako nearly spit out the words. “That’s what this is all about, right? You want to prove yourself better than Korra. What better way than forcing yourself upon her bondmate? Well, go on. Just do it. I’m even a virgin. Do it!”

Kilaun only smiled: that now-familiar, still-unsettling wolf-toothed smile. I will not be afraid, Mako told himself. I will not cry.

Then Kilaun laughed – loud and contemptuous. He grabbed Mako around his neck and knocked him back against the wall. Mako groaned as pain shot through the back of his head. When he opened his eyes, Kilaun’s face was pressed up against his. He felt a new, hot breath across his face with every word Kilaun said.

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Kilaun hissed. “Do you think I can’t see who you are? Poor little boy, alone and afraid. He scams a few suckers and wins a few pro-bending matches. He goes a few nights without food and gets up after a punch. And for that, he thinks himself tough and strong. Thinks himself powerful.”

Kilaun hit Mako hard in the stomach. Mako cried out in pain.

“But he’s not.”

Mako collapsed to the ground as Kilaun let him go. As Mako looked back up, tried to get on his knees, he saw Kilaun looming over him, his hands on his hips.

“You would like it if I raped you, wouldn’t you? You would glory in the idea of gritting your teeth through the pain and telling yourself that despite it all you’re stronger than whatever I throw at you. But you’d be wrong. You’re nothing but a pervert, and you’ll never be stronger than me. Soon, even the Avatar will learn she is not stronger than me. And if I ever deign to mount you, it’ll be because you begged me to do it.”

Kilaun was walking away. Despite everything, Mako could feel the ache inside of him grow deeper. Part of him feared that Kilaun was right, that he really was working on a sense of bravado and false pride. But the greater part of him was just angry. He got up, sat back on his knees.

“You’re not stronger than Korra!” Mako yelled. “You’re a bigoted relic of the past, Kilaun, and Korra and Asami and my brother are going to ...”

“‘Bigoted?’” Kiluan snorted. “You’re a sentimental fool reciting slogans. Do you think I hate Yins? Does a moose-lion hate a cat-deer? Does the hunter hate his prey?”

Mako’s eyes widened. “You’re sick.”

“The word you’re looking for, Mako, is ‘correct.’ Bleeding-hearted philosophers tell us that Yin and Yang are eternal partners in a dance, that one cannot exist without the other. But in every surviving nation, Yang has ruled while Yin has served. Yang has conquered while Yin has yielded. Yins complain and whine about how Yangs have unfairly set themselves above, but that’s all they can do, because they cannot fight the natural order no more than they can fight their urges. Because Yangs were put on this earth to rule, and to argue otherwise is to deny both biology and history.”

“And where do in-betweens fit in?” Mako growled.

Kilaun smiled. “The Water Tribe Chief needs his soldiers. The Earth Queen needs the Dai Li. The triads need their enforcers. Get Yangs to be your strength and they’ll try to prove their own dominance. Get Yins to be your strength and they’ll crumble. The pervert has his place in the true order of the world, as all things do. It’s the lies of this weak new world that lead people from their rightful path. And you ...”

Kilaun reached beneath Mako’s chin, lifted his face up to his.

“ ... You’ll find yourself much happier when you learn your place.”

~*~*~

_The pervert has his place in the world’s true order. You need to know your place._

_Like the son bows to the father, the Yin bows to the Yang._

~*~*~

Mako was slipping. He didn’t understand much of what was going on these days, but he understood that.

The serum kept him aroused until he fainted from exhaustion, and when he wasn’t aroused he was starving. In both times Kilaun or one of the twins would visit him, and they would shine a light into his eyes and repeat ... what was it? Something. When the hypnosis session was over it was hard to remember the lies they were feeding him, and when he went under the light it was hard to remember anything else.

A wonderful smell woke Mako up: grease and dough and meat and the harsh sting of scallions. His stomach rumbled. The door opened and the smell grew stronger. Were they feeding him now? Why? It seemed almost too good to be true.

A young boy walked into the room. Smart, Mako thought. He wasn’t going to throw fire in a kid’s face to get out of here. As the young boy grew closer, Mako caught the boy’s Yin scent. Then as the boy set down the tray of potstickers and removed Mako’s mask, Mako caught a glimpse of the boy’s green eyes.

“Jiayi!”

The boy flinched. He was a skinny child, maybe even moreso than his sister, but he definitely had her eyes. His brown shirt, gray pants and light green vest hung loosely about his body. His brown hair was matted, and his feet were wrapped in bandages rather than shoes. “H-How did you know my name?”

“My name is Mako,” he said. “I’m friends with the Avatar. We have your sister and we’re going to – ”

“I know that!” Jiayi protested. “Kilaun told me you’re holding her hostage, but now that we’ve got you we’re going to get her back.”

Mako shook his head. “Jiayi, that’s a lie. Shuchun ran away.”

Jiayi shoved one of the potstickers into Mako’s face. He flinched at the heat.

“Why would she run away with you?” Jiayi yelled at him. “Why would she leave me?”

Mako sighed. It was probably unrealistic to think he’d be able to convince Jiayi of what was happening in one conversation after he’d been under the pack’s influence for so long. It would be better to try to earn this kid’s trust rather than argue with him. “You really miss her, huh?”

Jiayi frowned. “She’s my sister.” Jiayi picked up one of the unbroken potstickers and held it to Mako’s mouth. Mako felt his mouth water before the dumpling hit his tongue. The taste of grease and meat and a little too much scallion burst in his mouth.

Mako let Jiayi feed him two more before he spoke again. “I’ve got a little brother, you know. We’ve been orphans since I was eight. We had to live on the streets. Whenever he went into heat, I had to take care of him. But in the end, we both made it out. Eventually that time ended for us.”

Jiayi studied Mako for a moment, but said nothing. He fed him another potsticker. “Must be nice to be a pervert.”

The image of Yaozu in that theater came to Mako’s mind, but he pushed it away. “There are Yins who make it on their own out there, too. Yins who don’t need a giant bully giving them protection. This city was founded by Avatar Aang and he was a Yin.”

“He was a bender. That’s different.”

“Councilman Sokka wasn’t a – ”

“I’m not Councilman Sokka!” Jiayi threw the plate on the ground and turned away from Mako. Mako watched the kid’s shoulders shake as he cried.

“Jiayi ...”

“I did this for her!” When Jiayi looked back at Mako his face was red and wet. “Every day I let those ... those people do all those horrible things to me and it was all for her. At least I got to see her before but now ... now she’s gone. She’s gone because of you and the Avatar and I hate you both! I hate you!”

Jiayi ran out of the room, slamming the cell door behind him. Mako sighed as he left. He tried to scooch himself toward the rest of the potstickers, but even after laying on the ground they were just out of his reach. He took a deep breath and tried to breathe fire, but he ended up producing nothing but smoke.

When the cell door opened again, the twins brought the serum with them.

~*~*~

_The pervert has his place in the world’s true order. You need to know your place._

His place? Where was his place? He’d thought his place was at the Avatar’s side, at Korra’s side.

_You never let her mark you. You always knew she couldn’t keep you. You need a stronger hand, a more loving hand._

No, he didn’t need anyone. He was strong on his own. He took care of his younger brother. Worked for him, starved for him.

_Like the son bows to the father, the Yin bows to the Yang._

His father? He’d had a father once. A kind Yin earthbender. His Yang mother had been the one to enact discipline, although she was beautiful and loving, too.

_You miss them, don’t you? You can have them again._

They’re dead. They’re gone forever.

_You can have a new father, Mako._

He felt a strong hand on his shoulders, leaned into it. It felt like comfort, like safety.

No, no. Mako tried to wake himself from the haze. This was wrong. This was all wrong. Yet when the lights went away he fell asleep, his groin tight and his body craving the touch.

~*~*~

There was someone else living inside him.

At least that’s what it felt like. The last time they put the poison in him he ... he not only couldn’t fight, but didn’t want to fight. He felt ... almost warm inside. Pleasant. Happy. 

No, Mako thought, he couldn’t be happy. That didn’t make any sense. He was captured, and the induced heats had been so torturous before. Yet just the hazy memory of it was making him a little wet.

Mako knocked his head back against the wall, trying to get himself to focus. It was a bit too painful and his head rang between his ears at the impact, but he didn’t care. He tried to think of Korra and her scent, yet when he closed his eyes visions of Yaozu came to mind, only his hands and face looked like Kilaun’s.

I’m his. He’s my master.

Mako shook his head. No, that was the other him that wanted Kilaun. His false, hypnotized self. Yet why did those thoughts linger so strongly?

The door opened and Jiayi and the potstickers were back again. Ugh. He would be gobbling them up but he really wanted rice or fruit or something substantial. Last time he almost felt sick after he was done eating.

“Hello, Jiayi,” Mako said.

“I don’t want to talk to you! I just want to give you your food and leave!” Jiayi sat down next to Mako and held out the potsticker, his face turned away.

Mako ate it. As Jiayi reached for another one, Mako asked, “Why don’t they ask another kid to feed me?”

Jiayi didn’t say anything as Mako ate the second potsticker. “I don’t know. The other kids are weird,” he said as he got the third. After he put that in Mako’s mouth he said, unprompted. “They’re really mean, actually. Shuchun would pretend she liked them for me, I think.” Jiayi bit his lip, then continued to feed Mako. “This kid named Lee started this game with two other kids named Shu and Cho. They call themselves the Leader Yins and challenge whoever the twins yelled at to fight them one-on-three. Nobody’s ever beat them.”

“Not much of a game,” Mako said.

“It’s awful.” Jiayi sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I tried to tell the twins what they’re doing, but they just told me I need to toughen up. Then they beat me up. I don’t know why. I always do what the twins say.”

“You can’t beat a rigged game, Jiayi.” Mako said. “That’s what they’re playing.”

Jiayi seemed to realize Mako was talking about more than just the other kids. “Kilaun says if I try to escape they’ll be other people out there who’ll get me. People worse than him.”

Mako was hard pressed to imagine anyone worse than Kilaun. “Maybe,” Mako said. “There are a lot of bad people in the world, Jiayi. I’ve met a lot of them myself. But there are good people too. People who want to help you.”

Jiayi didn’t say anything but kept feeding Mako. When they were done, Mako said, “Look, I can’t promise you that life won’t be hard. Life is hard. But it can be better than this. It should be better than this.”

Jiayi shrugged. “I should be a normal kid who lives in a home and goes to school, but my father died and now I’m here. If you want to tell me what shouldn’t have happened, my father shouldn’t be dead.”

“Yeah, I know.” Mako said as Jiayi closed the door.

~*~*~

The sight of the needle was enough to make Mako hard. When one of the twins held him down and the other plunged the needle in, he moaned.

_The pervert has his place in the world’s true order. You need to know your place._

“My place is here with you.” Mako said. He felt so good. So ... sexy. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt like this before, like someone who could just lose himself to the pleasures of mating.

(Yaozu took him home in an ostrich-horse-drawn carriage. Mako had let Yaozu kiss him in the cab, Yaozu’s hands roaming along Mako’s back, his buttocks, his thighs.)

The twins were taking him out of his chains. He moaned as their hands ghosted along the sore parts of his wrist.

“You’re a really eager boy, aren’t you?” One of the twins purred. The other’s sweet, cherry-flavored lips met his. As their tongues met the twins sandwiched themselves along his chest and back. At first they only rubbed their hands along him, pressed their soft breasts against him, but one of them wedged her knee between his thighs, and he ground himself along it.

“That’s enough, girls.”

Mako groaned as the twins pulled away, let him drop on the ground. His limbs were still stiff, and it was hard to move as he crawled toward the voice.

_Like the son bows to the father, the Yin bows to the Yang._

“My master,” Mako murmured. He heard the twins tittering behind him. It shamed him, in part, and yet he was also so excited to be in Kilaun’s presence he felt as if his body were humming.

Kilaun bent down to Mako, cupped his hand underneath Mako’s chin. Mako breathed deeply, more excited than he’d ever been. Kilaun’s mouth covered Mako’s. His kiss was fierce and hard, and Mako felt himself engulfed in it.

Kilaun broke off the kiss. He knocked Mako to the ground, dug the heel of his shoe into Mako’s back. Mako’s penis twitched hard in response.

“Who is Bolin?”

Disgust and frustration whirled in his head. “He wasn’t a real brother,” Mako said. “He held me back. I wasted years of my life helping him for nothing.”

Kilaun nodded. “Who is Asami Sato?”

“Someone I once knew. A friend who became my enemy. The daughter of a traitor.”

“Who is Korra?”

“The Avatar,” Mako closed his eyes. There was a twinge of pain in his heart he didn’t understand. “A weak Yang unworthy of the title who has only been raised to prominence because of her birth. Our enemy.”

“Yes.”

Mako closed his eyes, kowtowed deeper. “Please, master. I’ve waited so long.”

Kilaun scoffed. “A Yin is more fit for me,” he said. Nevertheless he snapped his fingers.

The twins’ hands were on Mako again, stripping him of his clothes, rubbing their hands along his bare skin. One of them reached down to stroke his penis while the other opened him from behind. It felt so wonderful, a relief so strong he ached. He was already soaked, and with a few pumps he came.

Kilaun laughed at him. “I suppose after days of treating him like a Yin he would come like a Yin, as well.”

The twins were laughing as well. Mako’s cheeks reddened but he was still so needy, so desperate. “Please Kilaun. I’m sorry. I’m weak. I need more.”

“Yes, you are.” Kilaun gripped Mako around the waist, lifting him up so his toes barely scraped the ground. “Yes, you do.”

Kilaun kissed Mako again, then laid him down on the ground.

(Yaozu’s house was huge. The bed alone could have been enough not just for Mako and Bolin, but for his mother and father as well. The coverlet was a deep red and soft beneath him, softer than anything he’d ever felt. Yaozu’s kisses were harder, as were his hands.)

Kilaun’s hands were surprisingly gentle as he pushed Mako’s knees apart. Then he reached inside him.

(“Stop!” Mako was wet but it still hurt. Yaozu’s fingers were dry and hard and they ached as they opened him. “Please, stop. Ow, I told you to stop!”)

Mako was yelling ‘stop!’ now, was punching and flailing and trying to get away. Kilaun’s hand slapped hard across the face.

(“I like ‘em with a bit of fight in them.”)

The floor was hard and when his chin knocked against it he bit his tongue.

“Not quite yet, then,” Kilaun said.

His eyes were damp, Mako realized. He didn’t cry very often. It was strange, because he didn’t feel upset. He felt calm.

“I’m sorry Kilaun,” Mako muttered. He forced himself onto his hands and knees. “I won’t disobey you again. I’m yours. My master. My love. My ...” He gulped. “My father.”

Kilaun chuckled. Mako shut his eyes as Kilaun grabbed onto his legs and pulled him close.

It doesn’t ... it doesn’t really hurt, does it? Mako thought, but by then he was half-way to losing himself again.

~*~*~

They’d moved him to a bed, when all was said and done. Mako woke up between a different set of red silk sheets, naked and cold. The room was decorated with Fire Nation trappings: red and black pictures of the Fire Nation symbol and statutes of dragons along the clean surfaces. A black outfit with red trim was folded on the table next to his bed. Mako pushed the covers off him, got out of bed and reached for the clothing. He looked it over before putting it on.

“Not a whole lot in the way of cover,” he muttered as he pulled the long vest on over his shoulders. Still, it was better than going around naked.

There were a lot of thoughts running through Mako’s head. He wondered if he’d made the right choice, or if he should have chosen to do anything at all.

They would have continued to torture you if you hadn’t consented, Mako reminded himself. They would have worked harder to turn you into that ... into that ...

Into that what? Mako wondered. That person who wanted to feel sexy, who wanted to enjoy mating? Who wanted to lose his virginity to someone he loved and not to that monster? That abuser. That bigot. That man who Mako had said he loved and meant it.

Mako placed his palms over his ears. Despite his best efforts tears sprung to his eyes. No, he tried to tell himself. Pull yourself together. You don’t have time for this. People are counting on you. And yet they were raping him, destroying him, in all sense killing what made him who he was.

But ... they hadn’t succeeded. Not yet, anyway. And as long as they thought they had won, Mako had the advantage.

The windows were sealed shut, although from the position of the Republic City tower in the distance and the hospital nearby made him realize he was somewhere in the north. He still couldn’t see a street sign from this angle, however. He had to find the front door, if possible. The bedroom door was locked, but it was just a lock.

He had very little energy. His joints were still aching and he felt weak and hungry. The door locked from the outside, but it was weak, and he was able to break it open quickly and easily.

The hallways were dark, and at the moment Mako was happy they’d left him the stupid dark outfit to wear. He kept his back against the wall as he shuffled along it. The movement hurt his ankles a bit; the sprain from the fight was long gone along with most of his bruises but ached from the days in chains. And he was still strong enough to walk, possibly even to fight. 

There were four other rooms on the floor. One was made up to look like a Water Tribe yurt. Another like photographs of an Upper Ring hotel in Ba Sing Se. When he peeked inside the fourth, he wasn’t sure what he expected. Perhaps an Air Nomad room?

Instead he saw what amounted to a small apartment. The bed itself was large – big enough for three or four people to lie comfortably. Pictures of baby cat-owls lined the walls and winged lemur toys lined the dresser. A pot of flowers with orchids sat on the end table with a clock. Yet what Mako really noticed was Tukiko and Tukiyo lying on the bed, sleeping in each other’s arms. They both wore loose pajamas – one green and the other blue, decorated with cartoon air bison.

Mako closed the door behind him, unsettled. They’re my enemies, he thought. He made his way down the stairs, which led into a lavish parlor with green and red upholstered furniture and wall coverings with both traditional and modern art from the five nations. There was still no front door, but he did find a window. A sign outside read the name of the intersection: Camellia Way and Plum Blossom. Mako repeated the names under his breath, tried to lock them into his memory.

He found a room adjacent to the parlor that might have been an office – an office in one of the Water Tribes at least. There was even a fire in the fireplace. But more importantly, there was a phone. Mako picked it up and called Tenzin’s number.

“Please pick up,” he whispered as the phone rang. When he looked up, however, the twins were standing in the doorway, identical smirks of triumph on their face.

“Who are you calling, lover?” Tukiko asked. She’d taken a bag of pebbles with her, while her sister had her water skein.

Mako knew he couldn’t think of a good excuse, and the phone was still ringing, so he set it down and dropped into a battle stance.

Tukiyo scoffed. “And how are you going to fight without your fire?”

“Not my fire,” Mako growled. He reached out and took control of the fire in the fireplace, drew it to him and blew it out at the twins. As they scattered, Mako ran toward the door.

“I told Kilaun not to leave that on. He never listens to us!” Mako heard one of the twins complain as he ran away. He saw another door at the opposite side of the building. He opened it and felt the outside wind on his face. It felt like victory, like freedom. He remembered the faces of Korra and Bolin and Asami and everyone he loved and cared about.

But then he remembered Jiayi, remembered his hopelessness.

There was another door close by. Mako opened it, found a staircase leading down into a basement. There were several children sleeping on cots. If the rest of Team Avatar were here, we’d save all of them, Mako thought. Or at least he would have liked to believe that. Given what happened when Korra and Asami tried he wasn’t sure if they’d succeed.

Jiayi slept on a cot on the far side of the room. Mako bundled him up. He felt Jiayi stir in his arms.

“No! No, Kilaun don’t touch – ” Jiayi opened his eyes. “Mako? I thought I smelled Kilaun.”

Mako felt his face turn red. He was going to explain to Jiayi that they were going to escape, but then other kids near him started waking up.

“Who are you?” a dark-skinned girl near him asked.

“He’s an enemy!” a boy next to her, also dark-skinned, said. A flame lit in his hand. “Let’s get him!”

“No!”

Kilaun stood on the stairs, Tukiko and Tukiyo close behind him. Mako saw Kilaun’s finger pointing at him.

“He’s one of us, and he’s in need of correction. Attack, my cubs.”

All the children were waking up now. Their eyes weren’t dead before, but as Mako looked into them it seemed as if some sort of light went out of them.

“It’s going to be okay,” Mako said to Jiayi, even though it felt like a lie. As he looked into Jiayi’s face, saw the deadness in those eyes as well, he knew it was, too.

~*~*~

Yaozu finally pulled his fingers away. He apologized, said something about how he didn’t think Mako was really hurt and how he would be back with something that would help them.

Mako lay on the bed, alone. He curled up among the comfortable sheets, wanting to sleep, wanting to cry. Why did it hurt like that? Was something wrong with him? Something had to be wrong with him. If he were a Yin he wouldn’t have that problem, he knew ... He chewed on his lip, tried not to cry.

The door opened. Mako looked up, expecting to see Yaozu, but there was another man at the door. He was light-skinned and had light brown hair, and his golden eyes were cold.

“How much is he paying you?” the man growled. As he approached the bed Mako could smell he was a Yin.

“I ...” Mako’s mind raced as he realized the situation. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“How much is he paying you?” the man was screaming at him now. Mako stumbled out of the bed, grabbing onto his clothes as he went. As he stood up he struggled to cover himself with them. Still, the man followed him, screamed in his face. “Don’t you run away from me! How much of my money is he using to cheat on me?”

Yaozu came back into the room, a jar of oil in his hand. “Huiquing!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting this filthy prostitute out of my house.”

Yaozu’s handsome face turned cold and hard. “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re my Yin!”

“Your Yin who you married for his money. Money that was meant to take care of me and our children and not for you to cheat on me.” Huiquing sneered as he turned back to Mako. “You don’t smell used, harlot. How much money does it take to debase you?”

The next words Mako said would haunt him even as he went to the nearest department store and measured outfits against himself to gauge how they would fit on Bolin, as he tried to seem confident and lie well when the store clerk at the pharmacy asked him why he wanted to buy so many suppressants at once, as he watched Bolin’s shocked face turn into a joyful grin upon his return. The words would haunt him for many days and years after, as he wondered whether or not it would have been more honorable to walk away, or at the very least ... tell the truth. But in that moment, Mako let his humiliation, let his hunger, overtake any better instinct.

“Twenty thousand yen,” Mako said.

“You dirty, lying street urchin!” Yaozu yelled at him, but Mako just concentrated on counting the yuans as they were placed in his hand.

~*~*~

“Yes, you’ve been a rotten child,” Kilaun’s voice hummed through Mako as Kilaun wrapped the red scarf around his neck. “You need guidance and protection. You always have.”

Mako’s hands fumbled along the scarf. My father’s scarf, he thought. He raised it to his nose, and it smelled like his father.

“I’m sorry,” Mako said, his face still buried in the cloth. “I will never disobey you again.”

“No. You will not. You are mine.”

Mako closed his eyes as Kilaun’s strong arms enveloped him.

“You’re finally home, my son,” Kilaun whispered.

Yes, Mako thought, I’m home.

~*~*~

The twins had ordered him to serve them breakfast, and it wasn’t until Jiayi entered the parlor room, carrying a tray full of fresh soymilk and crullers, that he saw the reason why.

Mako sat between the twins on the couch. Even with Tukiko’s black eye, the two of them looked immaculate draped over Mako, petting him like a lovely jewel or a rare pet animal.

“Like our new toy, Jiayi?” Tukiyo asked, running her hand along Mako’s chest.

Jiayi’s hands shook as he set the three trays in front of them. As Mako reached for a cruller, Jiayi hoped for a moment of recognition, for a moment when Mako would look in his eyes or try to speak to him.

“Jiayi,” Tukiko’s voice was brusque as she spoke. “Mako will be your new caretaker. Any order from him is an order from us now, understand?”

Jiayi nodded. Tukiyo cuddled closer to Mako. Tukiko waved Jiayi away before taking a sip from the clay mug of soymilk.

After going back to the kitchen for another tray, Jiayi went into Kilaun’s office. His master sat behind his desk, reading a newspaper. Jiayi noticed Kilaun’s lips moving slightly as he did so. I should offer to read it to him again, Jiayi thought – only about half of the children working for Kilaun could read – but Jiayi was too shaken up to get the words out.

“You saw Mako?” Kilaun asked as Jiayi set down the food.

“Y-Yes, master.”

“So, you understand then?”

Jiayi raised up his chin, tried to meet Kilaun’s eyes as Kilaun lowered his newspaper.

“You understand what happens to people who oppose us.” Kilaun’s voice was low, almost on the edge of that growl he made whenever he got mad.

Jiayi’s eyes widened. He hadn’t wanted to meet the prisoner, especially after the twins said he’d helped capture Shuchun. Yet Kilaun had insisted Jiayi be the one to feed him. It was only until then that he understood why.

“Yes, Kilaun,” Jiayi said, trying not to make his voice squeak. Kilaun mocked them whenever they whispered or spoke softly.

“You’re dismissed,” Kilaun said, raising his newspaper.

Jiayi walked out of the room. It should be better than this, he thought, but it isn’t. Still it was only when he got back into the kitchen and closed the door that he allowed himself to cry.

End Part Ten.


	11. Chapter 11

~*~*~

The shop didn’t exactly do repairs, but they did sell tires. Lots of tires. Tires in stacks that stood about a foot above Asami’s head. Stacks that lined a path – more like a maze – leading up to the shopkeeper’s door. They were all used – a few seemed to have their treads completely worn away – but Asami knew what to look for and was eager to be back on the road.

“A full set will cost you five thousand yen,” said the man behind the desk. He was a Yang – short, light-skinned, fat. His threadbare shirt had some stains on it that might have been grease but might have also been lunch.

The cost of the tires was probably too high. “Fine,” Asami said. “But I want to check them out first.”

The Yang man shrugged. “You’re at a used tire shop, sweetie. Nothing’s going to be pristine.”

Asami frowned at the Yang’s back as he made his way out a side door to the tire maze. “Sweetie?” she grumbled under her breath. If she only had her glove ...

Oh, what are you so mad about, anyway? An annoying voice in Asami’s head chided her. Didn’t you say Korra wasn’t your friend?

Asami had said those words to Korra’s face, felt like Korra deserved to hear them after what she had said before she ran after Mako. Yet the memory made Asami’s chest feel tight. She couldn’t go home. She suspected if she went back to Air Temple Island the Pack would try to lure them out again. Asami had to stay with the two of them now and see this through. It was the only way.

But it was wrong, what Korra and Bolin did. They were cheaters and ... and yet just seeing her ex-boyfriend (who she still cared about and maybe even still loved) in that brainwashed state had been heartbreaking. How much worse was it for Korra and Bolin? It still didn’t make it right, but ...

What? Was she just upset that her friends didn’t want to have sex with her?

Part of Asami wanted to cry. Another part of Asami, the part of her that had surfaced when Kilaun first taunted her, whispered something else.

Get mad, it said. Get revenge. Take what’s yours.

Asami hugged herself. No, that wasn’t her. Asami thought things through, looked at every side of the situation before making a decision. She tried to be kind to others and do what was right and not act solely for herself. She wasn’t a Yang. She wasn’t like ... like her father.

The owner and an assistant came back with the tires. Asami looked them over, even put a spare yuan in the treads to make sure they were up to snuff, and found no problems. She had just enough to pay the man. As he reached for her money, he sniffed her.

Asami reeled back, offended. “What are you doing?”

The owner’s thick brown eyebrows raised for a moment, but then he suddenly reared back, embarrassed. “Beg your pardon, Miss. It’s just not often I meet an in-between before. Don’t worry. I’ve got a cousin who’s an in-between. The nicest guy. Sweeter than most Yins, if I had to judge. Need some help carrying these tires?”

“How did you --?” Asami realized then that she hadn’t worn her perfume today. “Just bring them out front. My friends and I will take it from there.”

Friends. She wondered why she used that word. What else would she call them, though?

~*~*~

“Hey, uh ... too bad nobody’s invented rubberbending, huh?”

It was a joke that was more intended to break up the silence than to actually be funny, so nobody laughed at it. Korra walked in back of Asami but in front of Bolin, carrying a tire in each arm where the others only carried one. Other than that joke they were quiet on the way back to the car and stayed quiet as Asami changed all of the tires. Korra did her best to be helpful in the awkward silence – making sure the next tire was easily available, holding the bolts when Asami set them down, helping lower the jack after each tire was replaced. At one point Korra thought Asami was looking at her as if she were thankful, but for the most part Asami kept to the task.

Ugh. Korra knew she had messed up and messed up badly, but this was torture. If she thought too long about what happened, she felt sick.

“So ... do we know what we’re doing yet?” Bolin asked from the spot on the curb where he sat.

“No,” Korra sighed, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand. “Do, uh, you have any ideas, Asami?”

Asami shook her head. After a few more awkward pauses, she shrugged and said. “I wanted to bring Beifong along before, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to run to her now. They really want to draw us out.”

“So ... we’re going to keep running?” Bolin asked.

“I think so.”

“It would be nice if we had something to run to ...” Korra said under her breath. She crossed her arms and leaned against the car, trying to think.

Bolin sighed. “Mako was always the ideas guy.”

“Well, we’re not stupid.” Asami had finished cleaning her hands and reached over the side of her passenger side door to the glove compartment. Korra saw her pull out a bottle of perfume, which she tossed to Bolin. “Here.”

Bolin fumbled with it before getting a good grip on it. “Oh, thanks.” He sprayed a lot of it over himself – maybe too much but Korra didn’t really want to smell him right now, either. Then he tried to hand it back.

Asami shook her head. “Keep it. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Oh ... okay.” Bolin put it in his pocket.

Asami sat down in the driver’s seat and Bolin made his way to the back, so Korra rode shotgun.

“And where are we going, again?” Bolin asked as Asami pulled the car out of park and onto the road.

“I don’t know,” Asami snapped. “Driving helps me think.”

Bolin muttered an apology. Korra sat quietly, staring at the buildings as they flew past them. While she would have rather concentrated on anything else, the awful possibility of Bolin being locked away in a room indefinitely came to mind, and then ...

“Hey, this is a longshot ... but take me to the safehouse near the Golden Lion Turtle theater.”

Asami’s eyes widened in shock. “What? I thought we didn’t want to put Bolin in a safehouse. Just because you screw up now we have to – ”

“It’s nothing like that!” Korra spat. “When we dropped Shuchun off there, the woman at the desk seemed suspicious. Maybe she’s seen other people come in with their symptoms before, and maybe that could lead us to the drugs and the Pack.”

Asami considered it, fuming. Then nodded.

“Hey ...” Bolin chuckled nervously. “Driving really does help you think.”

Once again no one laughed.

~*~*~

The two of them had been working for an hour.

Jinora watched carefully as Shuchun sat in front of her. The younger girl had her legs crossed, her hands resting beneath her heart. Jinora had showed her the hand positioning for the third-eye chakra – the thumbs and middle fingers connected and pointed in opposite directions while the other fingers were folded against each other at the knuckles – before they started. They had never gone this far in meditation before, and possibly would never go farther. You couldn’t open the crown chakra without a strong root chakra, and Shuchun was still full of fear and doubt.

Still, Jinora felt like she was watching Shuchun grow spiritually. Opening and aligning chakras was never an easy process, and Shuchun’s needed work. Shuchun could barely visualize her pleasure and willpower chakras when they first started, although her heart chakra was reassuringly strong and Shuchun perceived her sound chakra as incredibly large, as if she had much to say that she was not letting out. Now Shuchun seemed very much at peace, her face soft and relaxed where it had once been wrinkled with worry.

“What did you see?” Jinora asked when Shuchun opened her eyes.

“I saw my third eye,” Shuchun rolled her shoulders back, sat up straight. “It’s very small, though. Like the size of a pea.”

“It’s okay.” Jinora used airbending to lift herself up off the ground, reached out her hands to Shuchun to help her stand up. “You’re doing great. And you look a lot better going through the airbending moves, too!”

“Really?” Shuchun said. She actually smiled, to Jinora’s surprise. Shuchun’s face lit up so much when she smiled.

Jinora nodded. “You’ll be a real Air Acolyte soon, just like Mom and the heroines of Yu Dao.”

The smile faded from Shuchun’s face. Oh no! Jinora thought. She’d been so happy ...

“I had a dream last night,” Shuchun said. “I was airbending for real, in this magical upside-down temple – ”

“Oh! Like in the Western Air Temple!” Jinora exclaimed. “That’s so cool.”

Shuchun looked confused. “It’s a real place?”

Jinora blinked, stunned. “You didn’t know about it?”

Shuchun shook her head. “Wow. I ... I was so sad when I woke up and thought it was all a dream. Well, it’s nice that part is real, even if I’m still weak.”

Jinora rested a hand on Shuchun’s shoulder. “Shuchun, I told you. You’re not weak. You’re just different. You’ll see how strong you are soon.”

Shuchun smiled, although it wasn’t that happy, bright smile she had before. 

“Come on,” Jinora grabbed Shuchun’s hand and pulled her down the steps of the meditation pavilion. The skies were gray and stormy, but they still had time before the rain broke. “Let’s go to the spinning gates! I think you’re ready now!”

~*~*~

Chun’s second impression on Korra did not improve at all from her first. The middle aged Yin was still all scowls as Korra entered the room. Korra didn’t relish talking to this woman who’d been so sour to all of them when this began, but right now this was their best bet.

“I know I’m not supposed to be here,” Korra said before the woman behind the desk could open her mouth. “So we can talk outside. I’ll move you if I have to.”

Chun frowned. “You lay a hand on me, Yang, and I’ll scream for security.”

“Then we can talk here.” Korra grabbed onto one of the uncomfortable waiting chairs, pulled it so it was facing back-first in front of Chun’s desk and straddled it, her arms folded on top of the chair. “But you’re answering my questions.”

The prospect didn’t make Chun any happier. “Typical of a Yang bender to threaten those they see as weaker. I’m done being scared of your ilk, Avatar.”

“Hey,” Korra pointed a finger at Chun. “You were the one who was going to hold a little girl here against her will without telling us why, and then pretty much flashed us the sign of a terrorist organization when we told you no. So don’t act like I’m just bullying you. Now I have questions to ask about Shuchun. Why did you think she was sick? Have you seen any sick Yins come through here?”

Chun’s thick, graying eyebrows wrinkled together as she frowned. “I don’t help benders.”

Korra rolled her eyes. Was this woman serious? “So, what? The ghost of Amon comes in and ‘equalizes’” – she put the term in sarcastic fingerquotes for extra derision – “every Yin who walks in?”

“If I could, I would,” Chun sneered. “Amon would have changed the world for the better if it weren’t for you.”

Korra was ready to tear her hair out. “Amon was a liar! He wasn’t a champion for non-benders. He was a waterbender just like me. ”

“Amon was never like you!” Chun stood up behind her desk, a snarl in her voice as she leaned over the table. “Amon defended the non-benders you sought to oppress.”

Korra could feel her breath growing hot, as if she could spit fire at any moment. “Yeah, well that defender of the oppressed’s airships killed the father of that girl we brought in here.”

“And if I were to tell you that my father was a Yang earthbender? That he raped and abused me for years? Would you tell me he was an outlier? That you can’t judge Yangs or earthbenders by him?”

Korra’s anger melted into unease. Chun’s furious expression curled into one that was merely nasty and bitter.

Then Chun sat down. She sipped a drink from her Equalist cup and adjusted the papers on her desk. “Dr. Auckaneck created suppressants to control the urges of Yins, but if you ask me it’s you Yangs who’ve always needed them. You’re bullies who prize strength over everything, and the sooner you’re out of the lives of Yins and non-benders, the better.”

Korra watched Chun for a moment. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe she was waiting for some kind of acknowledgement of what Chun said to her. But when it didn’t come, Korra turned and walked out the door, an idea brewing in her head.

~*~*~

Bolin wondered how long he and Asami would have to wait as they sat in the backseat of her car, parked along the west side of the safehouse. Korra’s talk with Chun hadn’t gone very well last time she was here, and Korra was more of a punchy-intimidating person than a talking-negotiating person. But then again that Yin wasn’t really into the whole getting-along thing, either.

Bolin sighed loudly. “Good times, huh? Sitting in the car. Thinking. Waiting. Waiting some more.” He looked over at Asami for a reaction, saw her gripping tightly onto the steering wheel and staring ahead. “... Well, you know,” Bolin muttered, feeling cowed. It was hard not to feel sorry for himself. Asami was probably angrier at Korra than at him, but he knew he made a huge mistake last night. On the other hand, he just felt so worthless after everything that had happened and he just wanted to feel ... to feel ...

He didn’t even know. Part of him still loved Korra. He didn’t think it was possible to not love Korra. And yet last night didn’t make him feel good. Well, it probably wasn’t possible to feel good when you were constantly antsy and depressed. And having sex with your brother’s girlfriend.

“How are you feeling?” Asami asked. She was still staring straight ahead, hands gripped on the steering wheel.

“Huh?” Bolin said. “Oh, I’m ... I’m fine.”

So, okay, maybe he was a bad liar. But sometimes it felt easier to lie. Otherwise Bolin would probably think of Mako telling him he was a burden and he’d start crying again.

“I mean, um ...” Asami chewed on her lips. “I mean how are you feeling, uh, heat-wise?”

“I’m ...” How to describe this without it being embarrassing? “Well, I guess it’s like a real heat. You know? Well, of course you don’t know, because you’re an in-between. But I have these rest periods where I don’t need to mate, but I could. Well, I guess nobody really needs to have sex, but ...”

Asami turned and started crawling into the backseat of the car. She wrapped her arms around Bolin’s neck and kissed him hard.

Bolin’s eyes widened. What just happened? And why did it just happen? And why was he feeling – Okay, he never thought he was attracted to in-betweens before but without her perfume Asami actually smelled kind of nice.

Asami straddled her legs across Bolin’s lap. Actually, she smelled more than nice. He was already hard and starting to get wet too when he wrapped his arms around her. Asami pulled away from him, breathed heavily as she reached a hand down between them and palmed his bulge.

“Do you like how this feels?” Asami asked.

“Well ...” Bolin gulped. “Well, yeah, but ...”

But by that time Asami had her mouth back on his again. He knew he should tell her to stop, but it felt so good, like he could go right back into the thick of his heat and just lie back and be ravished. He felt more fluid gush out of him.

Asami broke the kiss again to lock her lips against Bolin’s neck. Bolin ground against her, letting out soft little moans. As Asami reached into his pants, felt the skin beneath, Bolin let his head roll back, his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched together to stifle any more sounds. He felt Asami’s hands on his chest, opening his shirt. Bolin wanted to look at her. He opened his eyes.

“Asami!” His voice was a whisper, but urgent. Asami moaned against his chest. “No, no!” He tapped her hard on the shoulder and pointed behind her. “Look!”

Bolin had seen the two women on the other end of the alleyway out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t recognize them, but Asami turned just in time to see the line of syringes that one woman showed to the other via her open trenchcoat. The other woman nodded, reached into bag slung over her shoulder.

“Those aren’t suppressants?” Asami asked.

“I’ve never seen them sold on the streets like that. Usually they’re in bottles and you make the syringes yourself.”

Asami stood up and climbed out of the car, adjusting her clothes briefly before running in their direction.

“Wait! Wait!” Bolin moaned in frustration as he pulled up his pants. He tried to button his shirt as he ran after her.

~*~*~

The smaller woman, the one who was buying, ran away at the sight of Asami, but not soon enough that Asami didn’t realize that she, like the seller, was a Yang.

The seller didn’t notice Asami until she had the woman by the front of her trenchcoat, knocked her back against the nearby brick wall. The Yang seller tried to wrench away, pale hands clawing at Asami’s light brown leather gloves.

“What’s your problem, lady?”

“This is a citizen’s arrest,” Asami said, knocking the seller back against the wall again. She heard Bolin run up behind her, the crack in the pavement as he bent up boulders of earth. “Who are you working for? The Triple Threats? The Agani Kais? Kilaun?”

“Wha ... What are you talking about? I’m selling suppressants!”

“You’re lying!” Asami screamed the words in the Yang’s face, louder than she ever screamed before. Her heart was pounding. “You can’t keep this drug hidden anymore. My friend’s been sick for days off it.”

“Hey, uh ... you don’t have to tell everybody about that ...” Bolin muttered.

The Yang snorted. “Not my problem, pervert.”

“I’m making it your problem!” Asami said. “Who gave you this? Who are you selling this for? Tell me now!”

The Yang responded by kicking Asami in the shins. Asami didn’t loosen her grip but she bent her knees at the impact. The Yang tried to pull away. Asami grabbed onto her coat. The Yang pulled herself out of the sleeves and ran. Asami tried to follow but after a block the woman jumped on the back of a trolley car as it pulled away.

“I can stop the trolley!” Bolin said as he caught up to Asami.

“No, that’ll cause more destruction than help.” Asami tried to keep her hands from shaking as she lifted up the trenchcoat, as her adrenaline high fizzled out. “And I think we’ve got a good clue right here.”

~*~*~

Something had happened – Korra could smell it.

Asami and Bolin had told her about their drug dealer shakedown, and Korra would normally assume Asami’s aggression levels were because of that. She wasn’t as familiar with Asami’s smell as she was with Mako’s or Tenzin’s, but both of them smelled more like Yangs after fights. However, after thirty minutes on the road Asami’s Yang smell was still very strong.

Bolin was also clearly distressed, even though Korra thought she had potentially good news for him. Hiding his feelings was hard for Bolin on a good day, and whenever Korra glanced toward the back of the car she saw Bolin looking around nervously, drumming his fingers or sighing heavily.

Asami slowed the car as they pulled out of the city proper, and hit an even lower speed when they left the Dragon Flats Borough and followed the roads through the suburban sprawl. But she sped up again when they drove along the winding roads leading into the mountains. The roads didn’t go far enough to reach the snowcaps, but they were high enough that Korra could look behind her and see the entire Republic City skyline.

The trees parted and the house appeared. Asami was right – her estate easily dwarfed the residence – but it was clear that a rich person lived here. Well, someone who was once rich, anyway. The house was three stories in faded blue and gold, with pagoda-style roofing on the top and above balconies which extended from the front and sides of the upper floors. A large, algae-ridden koi pond and overgrown garden sat between the house and the street, with a bridge painted in a cracked white standing over the water and leading up to the house.

“I thought you said he lived in a nice place,” Korra said.

“He did once,” Asami said as she parked as near to the entrance as she could. “I have to tell you, though. I still don’t think he’s going to answer the door.”

“We have to try,” Korra said as they made their way over the bridge. “If anyone can figure out how to cure Bolin, he can.”

The steps leading up to the house – which had more than a few large cracks – were colored in blue. The gold and black decorations on the columns along the stairs were made up of Water Tribe iconography despite the more Fire Nation style. Then again, Korra realized that most buildings in the United Republic took on the architecture of that country or the Earth Kingdom, despite the new Water Tribe immigrants. When Korra reached the large wood door with the chipped moon-shaped door handles she felt her chest tighten, but eventually sighed and rang the doorbell.

Given the size of the estate, she expected a butler or maid to open the door. Instead she saw a dark, wizened old man, leaning on a thick cane that seemed to be less supporting the thin man than the huge fur cape hanging over his shoulders. When he spoke – flat, loud, harsh – Korra wondered if she had the right man, but she believed she could hear a bit of the voice that had spoken over the radio in her past life’s memories.

The man’s thin blue eyes squinted at her beneath white, bushy eyebrows. “Why are you here?”

Korra took a deep breath. “My name is Avatar – ”

The man lifted what looked to Korra like the horn of a phonograph to his ear. “What?” he asked.

Korra stared at it, confused, then spoke into the horn. “I’m Avatar Kor—”

“I know who you are!” He yelled this time. “I’m deaf. Not blind. I’ve seen your picture. What do you want with me?”

“My friend is sick, Dr. Auckaneck,” Korra said, pointing back to Bolin. “And I want to know what it would take to get you to help us, because I think you’re the only one who can.”

~*~*~

“And how, exactly, are they missing?”

Tenzin winced a bit as Lin screamed at the White Lotus Yin woman in front of her, although in truth he was just as frustrated. When Pema told him last night that Korra and her friends seemed like they were hiding something, Tenzin put it down to them being naturally upset about Mako. Then they woke up to find all three of them gone.

“I-I’ve spoken to my brothers and sisters in the White Lotus and while, yes, it’s true that none of us saw the Avatar and her friends leave we ... we also were a bit more concerned with people coming onto the island than, well ... leaving.”

Lin snarled in frustration. “Do you see now why I said you need proper security?” she said to Tenzin.

Tenzin frowned. He understood the sentiment, but disliked that Lin felt the need to harangue him about this now. “Lin, I want to find them and that maniac as much as you do, but we have to go about this the correct—”

“Chief!”

The voice came from a young, bespectacled, Yang male police officer running up the path, a notebook in his waving hand. He panted as he reached the two of them.

“Sorry to interrupt. A patrol car called in to headquarters minutes ago. A bomb’s gone off at the East Hospital.”

Lin’s voice was the same steely calm that she showed to most people, although Tenzin had seen her eyes widen a moment in shock before she spoke. “Any estimates on injuries or casualties?”

“The unit reported the foundation is sound, but we’ve already seen several people hurt, both patient and staff.”

Lin sighed and looked at Tenzin as if to apologize.

“I’ll come with you,” he said. His response was unthinking, almost automatic. Yet after he’d said it Tenzin was determined to go.

Lin frowned. “Your home has been under attack and the Avatar is missing. You’re needed here.”

“I’m still Councilman, Lin, at least for now,” Tenzin said. “I have a duty to the people of Republic City, as well. And Oogi can get you to the hospital more easily than the airships.”

A sigh escaped Lin’s lips. Her eyes locked onto the city’s skyline. “Let’s not waste any more time, then.”

~*~*~

“You have a lot of nerve showing up at my home like this, Avatar.” Dr. Auckneck was very thin, but his footfall echoed loudly off the walls of the empty house as he stepped toward Bolin, looking him up and down.

“Look,” Korra sighed, trying hard to keep her voice loud without letting her annoyance drip through. “I know you and Avatar Aang didn’t get along but – ”

Dr. Auckaneck’s loud sniff of Bolin turned into a disgusted snort. “‘Didn’t get along?’ I spent years on the butt-end of his reactionary, anti-science prattling while desperate Yins were begging for my formula. The man nearly ruined me!”

Asami scoffed. “Seems like you did that yourself,” she muttered under her breath.

Dr. Auckaneck’s thin blue eyes narrowed as he glared at her. “I may not be able to hear you talking about me, Miss Sato, but I can still tell when you are.” He looked over Bolin’s shoulder at Korra. “How long has this boy been in heat?”

“Um ...” Bolin muttered, embarrassed. “About a week and a half ...”

“What?”

“About a ...” Bolin caught a glimpse of Dr. Auckaneck’s ear horn and spoke into that. “I said I’ve been in heat for about a week and a half.”

“Any headaches, fever, heart palpitations, dizziness, or other adverse side effects?” Dr. Auckaneck spit out the symptoms like a telegraph tapping.

“No, um ... just the ... you know,” Bolin’s eyes darted quickly to his crotch. “The obvious. And sometimes I feel really thirsty.”

Dr. Auckaneck grunted. He turned from Bolin, rubbed his chin. Korra walked closer to the doctor so she could speak into his ear horn. “So, can you help him?”

“How should I know?” he barked. “I’ve barely looked at him. I need to examine him fully, especially without notes of the other doctors’ primary examinations.”

“Can you do that?” Korra asked.

“I can pay,” Asami offered.

“’Pay?’” Dr. Auckaneck’s cane scraped hard against the ground as he scoffed. “Don’t insult me, girl. I know your company’s practically broke. I may be the world’s pariah due to your father and his lying friend, but I’m still not poor enough to need charity from the likes of you.”

Asami’s pretty, made-up face broke out into an ugly snarl. “It’s not charity! I need help for my friend and I’ll pay for it. Trust me, I would never give a bigot like you charity.”

“Oh, I’m a bigot now?” Dr. Auckaneck’s harsh, flat voice reverberated loudly off the walls. “For condemning the unfairness of a country run by the representatives of a quarter of its population? For naming Councilman Tarrlok a despot? In the North only benders become healers. I had to fight tooth and nail into the medical field. Would you call me a bigot for speaking the truth of my experiences?”

Korra frowned. “That doesn’t justify terrorism. Or taking people’s bending!”

“I never advocated that,” Dr. Auckaneck huffed. “I wrote my articles before Amon’s so-called revelation. Not that it mattered to the hospital board. Or to you, apparently.”

Korra huffed. She didn’t come here wanting to argue with Dr. Auckaneck, and now she might have just blown the whole thing. “Look, I ... I’m just going to say that I don’t share Avatar Aang’s views. To be honest I don’t know what I believe when it comes to suppressants. And I am sorry for how benders have treated you. Amon needed to be stopped, but benders like Tarrlok were wrong too and I want to help everyone, not just benders. So if you help my friend, maybe I can do something to help you, too.”

Dr. Auckaneck stared at Korra for a long moment, his blue eyes piercing beneath his bushy eyebrows. “I’m an old man, Avatar. The things I want have long passed me by. But I am still a doctor.” He grabbed onto Bolin’s arm. “Come. I have an examination room downstairs. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

~*~*~

Tenzin knew the way to the hospital, but even if he hadn’t he could see the smoke in the distance. He urged Oogi faster, his heart sinking as the building came into view. Three fourths of it seemed sound, but the south side was crushed, with several of the interior floors and rooms visible above an enormous pile of rubble lying on the street. It reminded him of Meelo’s last birthday, when his son had grabbed a fistful out of the layered cake.

Lin let out a long breath. “I see some of my metalbenders down there, at least. It’s not as bad as I feared, but it’s worse than I hoped.”

Tenzin nodded solemnly. “I’ll do everything I can to help, Lin.”

Oogi’s paws hit the ground and Tenzin and Lin slid off his back. They moved past the police blockade against the rubberneckers and into the melee. Tenzin saw many people – some in patient gowns and others in hospital scrubs – sitting on the ground or lying on stretchers while doctors and nurses wrapped their wounds in bandages or held them under glowing water. One of them was a girl about Ikki’s age, and Tenzin’s heart ached with fear.

Yet the biggest concern remained the pile of rubble. Metal and earthbenders were sifting through it slowly, carefully, trying their best not to cause an avalanche that could hurt anyone buried beneath. For an hour Tenzin helped them, using airbending to assist lifting the rubble or in clearing an area of dust. He even helped pull a Yang man in his 30s from the pile with an officer. His name was Shingo. They found a Yin woman later who wasn’t as lucky.

A female Yin metalbender reported to Lin shortly thereafter. “Chief. I’ve just spoken to the head of the hospital. Two have died in the blast – one person who was working in the lab and the woman found beneath the rubble, otherwise, they’ve logged about two dozen injured.”

“A tragedy, but it could have been worse,” Lin said. “I want you to let everyone know how grateful I am for their work. Have we found the culprit?”

The officer shook her head. As the two women continued to speak, Tenzin looked over the damage to the building. The lobbies faced the west end of the hospital, so from the exposed floors he only saw a few bedrooms, but mostly laboratories and a waiting room. Did the terrorist have a conscience? Tried to hit a part of the hospital that wouldn’t be so congested?

Tenzin used airbending to buoy himself lightly above the remaining rubble, landing on the second floor. He tread carefully through the laboratory, noticing that several shelves and cabinets had been emptied, contents scattered on the floor in a way that couldn’t have been from the blast.

But was it a blast? They hadn’t cleared everything away yet, but Tenzin hadn’t seen any bits of what could have been the bomb or dynamite. He walked further down the halls, trying to see what else he could find.

The snap and whirring of two metal whips hooking onto the remnants of the walls and drawing their owner up into the room caught Tenzin’s attention. “You’re wondering the same thing, aren’t you?” Lin asked.

“That a bender did this?”

“An earthbender,” Lin insisted, looking around. “The rubble’s usually hotter when there’s an explosive. There’s some smoke, so a firebender being involved isn’t completely out of the question. But you would think more of the rubble would be melt—”

Tenzin didn’t wonder when Lin stopped speaking, because he also heard steps behind him – full of purpose and loud, but without the clang of the metalbenders’ shoes. He turned around.

The girl and her sister – he couldn’t tell which one he’d seen before – them he knew. The huge man in the Water Tribe clothing out of some Fire Nation propaganda show was a bit of a shock. But it was the fourth person – the most familiar person – that truly shook Tenzin.

“Hey there, old man,” Mako said, a flame bursting to light in his hands. “Long time no see.”

~*~*~

The examination room bore closer resemblance to a laboratory than a doctor’s offices – at least going by the few times Bolin had been able to visit them. Tables of test tubes, microscopes and beakers – some coated in a thick layer of dust – stood above several boxes of papers and equipment crammed underneath and against them. These filled three quarters of the oversized room, while the last quarter held a cot jammed next to a chair and a small, silver table on wheels with a doctor’s kit overstuffed with tools.

“Forgive me for the lack of space,” Dr. Auckaneck said as he snapped a cloth mask over his ears. “In my latter years I’ve turned more toward research than patient care.” Despite his pronounced limp, within less than a minute Dr. Auckaneck dusted off the cot with a clean cloth and pushed back enough boxes to make enough room for him to move back the chair and sit down.

“Oh ...,” said Bolin uncomfortably. “It’s okay. Better than a lot of places I’ve had to stay. Safehouses ... back alleys ... prison.”

“What?” Dr. Auckaneck asked.

Deflated, Bolin shook his head. “Never mind,” he said, trying his best to raise his voice without making it seem like a yell. “It’s not important.”

Dr. Auckaneck snorted. He bent down, reaching into a box below the cot. He pulled out a smock and threw it at Bolin. “Put these on. No underclothes.”

Bolin stretched out the smock between his two hands. It felt very lightweight, like it would barely hide anything. His heat had been at low ebb for most of the car ride but was starting to grow again. He felt a glob of fluid trickling out of him already. “Hey, where can I change?”

Dr. Auckaneck was too busy rubbing alcohol on his hands to notice Bolin had spoken. Too embarrassed to ask again and be greeted with another angry “what?” Bolin decided instead to do something considerably more embarrassing.

“What are you doing?” Dr. Auckaneck yelled at him when he caught a glimpse of Bolin with his shirt off and his pants half-way down his legs. He pointed to a curtain on the far side of the room. “Behind there.”

“Sorry!” Bolin waddled behind the curtain, his face turning red. As Bolin finished changing, the low feeling that had been following him seemed to grow thicker. The needs of the situation at hand were propelling things forward – so much so that he hadn’t really had time to think about what had happened with Korra and then Asami. If he hadn’t taken that stupid syringe ...

Bolin covered his eyes with his hands. People were supposed to blame Yangs for losing control in a heat rather than Yins for being in heat around Yangs ... but this really was his fault, any way you looked at it. Asami’s aggressiveness was probably due to his heat. He’d asked Korra to sleep with him. Oh, if only he had Mako to talk to but then again if anyone was bad at relationships, it was his brother. Actually, he’d been the one to be involved with the both of them at the same time first ...

“Aren’t you changed yet?” Dr. Auckaneck’s rough voice bellowed through the room.

“Yes! Sort of! I’m coming out!” Bolin stumbled out from behind the curtain and rushed to the examination bed, stubbing his toe on a box as he went. “Ow ...” he moaned as he lay down on the bed.

Dr. Auckaneck let out a sigh that sounded more like a growl. “On your stomach!”

“Oh! Sorry.” Bolin got on his hands and knees, his face turning beet red. Being in the position felt humiliating, and it got even worse when Dr. Auckaneck’s bony hand slammed his chest down on the bed, propping his butt up further.

Dr. Auckaneck didn’t give Bolin a warning before starting his examination. The doctor’s fingers pushed inside him, touching parts sensitive and not. Meanwhile his other hand moved along Bolin’s lower abdomen. Bolin wasn’t sure what the doctor was searching for – occasionally the doctor would mumble a word under his breath – but he wished it would end, especially since it was aggravating his heat so much. His body couldn’t help but pump out more and more fluid.

Still, Bolin winced when Dr. Auckaneck pulled his fingers out of him. A cloth which wiped up the excess fluid replaced it.

“So, um ... find anything?” Bolin asked, turning back to try to meet Dr. Auckaneck’s eyes.

Dr. Auckaneck didn’t answer. When he was done wiping Bolin up, he stared into space for a few moments.

“Your ovaries appear healthy, although there appears to be some redness in your discharge. I imagine your uterine lining has been overtaxed by the drug’s effects.”

“So ... do you know what the drug does?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Dr. Auckaneck said, although he said it so quickly and angrily that it took Bolin an extra moment to really unravel what the doctor had said. “Estrogen in the ovaries brings on the heat, compared with an excess of testosterone to increase sexual desire – and even if I didn’t know that I could see it through your large testicle size.”

Bolin’s face was really red now. “... Are they really that big?”

“Normally various glands regulate our hormonal cycles, but I imagine the drug has chemicals telling your body to increasingly make more estrogen of testosterone. Probably something in the bloodstream has aggravated your pituitary gland.”

“Oh ...” Bolin said, not understanding at all.

“Regular suppressants work through the injection of progesterone and antiandrogens – the male Yin’s suppressants always have a higher dose of the latter. Usually this is enough to suppress heats if taken regularly, but if that hasn’t worked for you, we’ll have to add something to temporary control the pituitary gland at the present time.”

Bolin nodded. Now that the doctor had stopped talking this seemed like a good time to ask him about something that had been at the back of his mind. “So, can I get pregnant?”

“What?”

“I said ‘Can I get –’”

“I heard you the first time! Do you mean to say you WANT to get pregnant, boy?”

“No! No! I am totally not ready to be a father. Not ... not that I think I’ll be a bad father, because I think I’d be totally great at love and piggyback rides and stuff. But I’m not so good on the money or responsibility. But, on the other hand, if I, per se, am pregnant. Can I not, like, kill it?”

Dr. Auckaneck’s mouth twitched. “We may have different ideas of pregnancy termination. The regular suppressant regime makes implantation of an embryo on the uterine wall impossible, but it won’t terminate a fetus. It will take me some time and a few tests before I feel comfortable testing any possible antidotes on you, however.”

Bolin gulped. “How long?”

“A day at the very least. But there’s only a few possibilities to this. I imagine I’ll find one sooner than later.”

“Oooh!” Bolin said, snapping his fingers. “I just remembered something. Asami has a sample of the drug. Would that help you?”

Dr. Auckaneck flinched a bit. Bolin wondered if he was angry, but then the man simply nodded solemnly.

Bolin breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t really a solution, but after so many days of bad news the possibility of one sounded great.

He just wished he could be happier about it.

~*~*~

The time had come. At this point the both of them knew it.

When Bolin had gone downstairs with Dr. Auckaneck, Asami had been the one to suggest the two of them take a walk outside. Korra had an awful pit in her stomach. She recognized this feeling, usually from times she had to admit something bad to her parents. It was like throwing up in a way. She knew it would be unpleasant but better when it was all over. Well, she hoped it would, anyway.

She still sort of wished Bolin had allowed one of them to watch over him when Dr. Auckaneck examined him. Despite his dislike of them, Korra believed that Dr. Auckaneck wouldn’t do anything bad to any of Bolin. But maybe her instincts were wrong and should be more cautious. Then again, she could understand why Bolin wanted his privacy, too. Especially from her and Asami.

When the two of them reached the bridge, Asami stopped, leaning her elbows against the handrail and looking out into the stagnant water. Korra did the same. Her fingers found a loose strip of paint and fiddled with it, unsure if they wanted to snap it off.

“I know it must be hard for you,” Asami said.

Korra shook her head. “Thanks, but that doesn’t excuse those awful things I said to you before I left. You’ve done a lot for me ... or for Bolin, and you really didn’t have to.”

“Didn’t I?” Asami pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Where would I be if I hadn’t met Mako and you? In a cell somewhere with my father? Or on the run from him? And now I can’t go back home. All of my servants are gone. My company’s losing money hand over fist and I ... I can’t even fix my glove. These days I feel like the only good thing I’ve done is help you, and I don’t feel like you want me here.”

Korra sighed. “If I’m honest ... sometimes I don’t. And I know that’s not fair. I don’t hate you, Asami. You’re smart, fun, nice. You know a lot of things I don’t. I’ve just ... well, I’ve been ashamed of what happened between us with Mako. Maybe not ashamed enough to break up with him, but – ”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to,” Asami interjected.

Korra gave Asami a weak half-smile. “Thanks, but I’m sure it hurt. I got jealous enough when you two started dating.”

Asami didn’t say anything back to that. Korra went back to worrying at the paint chip, wondering if she should have said anything at all.

“Korra,” Asami drummed her fingers along the bridge handrail, “Do you think we’re doomed to be the way we are?”

Korra blinked a few times. “You mean with our genders? Well ... I’ll always have Yang instincts but there’s always ... always a choice.” It was hard to hide her shame when she spoke the words. “I guess I haven’t been making the right choices lately.”

“Me either.”

It was Bolin they were talking about, then. Wow, they really were a mess. She suddenly missed Mako even more than usual.

“I would have thought that wouldn’t be a problem for in-betweens, though,” Korra said, trying her best to be funny.

Asami’s painted lips curled into a smile – the first smile Korra had seen from her in a long while. “I know, right?”

“Korra! Asami!” Bolin was calling their names from the entrance to the house.

“Be right there!” Korra waved back. As the girls walked in Bolin’s direction, a long-standing question scratched the back of her mind. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked it, but ... “Asami, do you still love Mako?”

Asami shrugged, her hands deep in the pockets of her driving pants. “Sometimes. I’m not sure. At times I wonder if I wanted a project with Mako, like I liked taking care of someone who needed it. That’s very Yang, isn’t it?”

“It can be,” Korra admitted. “I always liked how strong Mako was ... but caring, too. Very caring.”

A deep sadness, like a fog in a swamp, settled on Korra’s heart as she met up with Bolin. She wondered if Asami felt it too.

~*~*~

“Mako, this is your friend Tenzin speaking to you.” The airbending master was not crouched for battle, kept his hands out and tried to speak to the boy slowly and calmly. “You are not yourself now. You’re under that madman’s influen—”

“Oh, for crying out loud, Tenzin! If Korra couldn’t talk him down, you can’t.” Lin took a step forward. She curled her hands into fists and metal blades popped out from her wrists in kind. “I am Chief Lin Beifong of the Republic City Police, and the three of you are under arrest for homicide, terrorism, prostitution, sex trafficking, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. Surrender now and hand over the boy or I will be forced to attack.”

Kilaun laughed, deep and low. When he flexed his hands a cracking noise echoed off the walls. “A two to four fight? I’d like to see you try, Chief.”

“I assure you, Kilaun. It will be more than equal.”

When Tenzin unleashed an airblast, Mako instinctively dropped to his stomach. The twins shrieked as they were blown back toward the far end of the corridor. Even Kilaun was pushed away, but he reached out his hand, dug it into the wall so he could get a grip into the plaster. Lin tried to take advantage of Kilaun’s state, jumped in his direction with her left arm blade raised, but Mako sent a fireball at Lin, knocked her to the ground.

Mako headed in Tenzin’s direction next. The twins, who had just gotten up, were close behind. Tenzin went on the defensive, dodging the blasts in circles and ducking low when he needed to – a fireball here, a ball of ice there. A round of pebbles flew at him and he caught them all in a tunnel of wind, blew them back at the three of them.

A look passed between the twins. They rushed at him from opposite sides now, Mako coming down the center.

“Close him in!” the one with the black eye yelled – Tenzin realized suddenly she was the earthbender. “Don’t let him dodge.”

Tenzin responded by propelling himself above them. He bent the air around him into a funnel, spun it out like a hurricane.

Having immobilized his opponents, Tenzin turned his attention to Kilaun and Lin. He could tell she was having a hard time of it. Tenzin had seen Lin take down countless opponents with ease in the past, but after only a few minutes she was clearly tiring – her gray hair matted and her face dripping with sweat. Yet in an instant Lin seemed to have Kilaun. She turned her blades into wires, wrapped them around his chest and arms. Lin dug her heels deep into the floor, and Tenzin saw track marks form beneath her heels as she tried to stand her ground and hold him.

But with a sudden jolt, Kilaun won the tug of war. Lin flew up to the air, and with another jerk of his body Kilaun sent her hurtling into the wall, Lin’s heavy armor causing her to crash through it.

“Lin!” Tenzin tried to run after her when he felt himself being pulled back by the edge of his cape. His body slammed into the wall. Then Tenzin felt two strong hands on his shoulders turning him around. He registered Kilaun’s face for a moment before he felt himself being pinned, being pummeled by fist after huge, heavy fist.

It took strength to stand his ground, willpower to ignore the blows, concentration to bend the air, but only a minute to raise his legs and blow Kilaun back.

He’s big and strong, Tenzin warned himself, and quicker than he looks. But Tenzin had skill on his side, had been taught from a very young age how to use an opponent’s strength against him. Tenzin went on the defensive, always spinning away from Kilaun, throwing out gusts of air during the movement. Kilaun kept advancing, but not fully. Occasionally he was blown back, but would recover growling at Tenzin, his teeth bared as if to rip out his throat.

He wished he could just end this. Tenzin was worried sick about Lin, and the girl from outside weighed on his conscience. But Tenzin knew he needed patience to defeat this man, and knew that he had the patience, the skill, the drive to do it.

So it was all the more heartbreaking when simple bad luck, when the wrong step on a bad floorboard compromised by the blast collapsed under him, brought about Tenzin’s defeat. He’d gotten his foot stuck for just a moment, but that moment had been enough.

“I almost admire you, Master Tenzin.” Kilaun had Tenzin by the throat, his face so close to Tenzin’s that Tenzin could smell Kilaun’s breath anew with every word. “The son of the last Airbender. Was your father disappointed when you weren’t a Yin? Was he worried you’d bring some of that oh-so-poisonous-aggression into his new utopia? But I suppose one could say the spirits would smile upon a man who could impregnate like a Yang when repopulating a dying race.”

“You know nothing of my father,” Tenzin bellowed, his fingers clawing at Kilaun’s hand.

“Perhaps not,” Kilaun said, his grip tightening on Tenzin’s throat. “But I know much of nature, of extinction. And the time that allowed your father’s race to thrive is over. The new era – or, really, the old era, the era where Yangs ruled and Yins knew their place – is about to begin.”

Kilaun’s head came smashing toward Tenzin’s, and then everything went dark.

~*~*~

The teenagers had followed Lin after she was thrown through the wall, and had wasted no time in attacking her.

“Getting tired, old lady?” the twin with the black eye taunted as she bent a bunch of pebbles in Lin’s direction. Lin easily pushed them aside, but stumbled a bit before she was able to whip out her metal cable and knock away the sister’s oncoming ice.

“Yeah, grandma,” Tukiyo said. “You look pretty worn. Must be so hard to be as old as you, huh?”

As if Lin had never had a criminal call her old. Or ugly. Or mean. Lin had fallen back into a large operating room, and ducked behind a bed as more ice and rock flew toward her. The twins rushed after her, continuing to attack in tandem, but Lin dodged back as the blows were about to hit her, ice freezing stone and stone breaking ice. Once again, though, Mako got her, fire knocking her back into the wall.

Lin growled as she stood up. Stupid! How could she make the same mistake twice? The metal of her uniform was piping hot where Mako’s fire blast had hit her, but at least it wasn’t electricity. She had to stop him before he thought of that.

In the past, Lin had never given any particular notice to the Avatar’s boyfriend. She’d known of Asami Sato a bit through her father, and the loud earthbender boy was hard to ignore. So with him and the Avatar around, the quiet older brother seemed to fade into the background. The kid could fight, Lin decided. He was quick and changed strategies at a moment’s notice, as good with a block as with a fiery punch.

Yet Lin had experience on her side, and had faced off with lots of talented firebenders in her day. Mako did attack again, this time with lightning. When she dodged it hit an IV pole next to her. An idea popped into Lin’s head. She rushed toward Mako, dodging another electric bolt, then grabbed onto the IV pole with her bending powers, wrapped it around Mako’s chest.

As soon as Lin had done that an ice-encased fist hit her cheek. When Lin had recovered she grabbed onto Tukiyo’s arm, hurled her over her shoulder and across the room. Another body jumped onto Lin’s back, dug into her hair and pulled at it. Lin propelled herself back against the wall, knocking Tukiko’s grip loose, then tossed her aside to join her sister.

“You haven’t won yet,” Tukiko sneered as the two of them got up. “You’re old, and you’re ugly, and nobody wants you.”

“Yeah,” Tukiyo chimed in. “Not like Tenzin’s wife. Tukiko says she’s way prettier and younger than you.”

There was more ice, more rocks, but Lin easily knocked them away.

“You’re so old you probably can’t even have sex with a Yin now, right?” Tukiko snickered. “You just smell them and can’t get it up.”

Tukiyo cackled. “She’s probably really small, too. That’s why Mako said Tenzin left – ”

Lin had turned her uniform’s blades into blunt, almost hammer-like objects that she used to force the air out of Tukiko and Tukiyo’s stomachs, to slam them both back against the wall. The twins squirmed beneath her grasp, but Lin held them steady. When she spoke, her voice was steely and unmoved.

“Yes, I’m old,” Lin said. “And you two are young. You are young, frightened children who say the most revolting, vulgar things you can think of so nobody will know how scared you are. And if you think that makes you adults, or makes anyone seriously, you have a lot to lear—”

Lin never finished her speech. It was cut off when that electricity hit her at last, ran through her metal uniform. She screamed before she hit the ground.

Kilaun loomed in back of her, Tenzin’s unconscious body in his arms. Mako stood next to him, his fingers smoking with the remnants of the lightning. The pole that Kilaun had pulled off of him lay broken at his feet.

On the other side of Lin, Tukiyo was staring at her shoes, but Tukiko’s green eyes were on Kilaun, wide with fear. “K-Kilaun, I’m sorry. We ...”

“We’re fortunate to have Mako,” Kilaun growled. He kicked Lin’s ribs. “Pick that up and follow me. The next phase of our plan awaits.”

As Kilaun turned, Mako close at his heels, Tukiko bent down and hooked her arms under Lin’s armpits. She looked at her sister. “Well?”

Tukiyo was still staring at the floor.

“Tukiyo! Come on!”

Tukiyo looked up in shock, her strange trance apparently broken. “Oh ... yeah. Sure,” she said, her voice incredibly quiet. She wiped her eyes and sniffled before picking up Lin by the legs and following her sister out the door.

End Part 11.


	12. Chapter 12

Dr. Auckaneck didn’t have much in the way of food – just some pickled vegetables and rice. Nevertheless, Korra was grateful. The doctor said he’d need another day to perfect the antidote, and in that time the three of them could stay in the former servants’ quarters in the back of estate.

“Ugh,” Asami coughed and waved her hands in front of her as they and walked through the dusty hallway. “How can anyone let their home get like this?”

“Well, if it’s the servants’ quarters it’s not really his home ...” Bolin said. He looked around the small, dilapidated house, his face forlorn. “I’ll take the room at the back ...”

Korra wished she could have told him that he didn’t have to, but she still didn’t trust herself. Asami, however, followed him into the bedroom. A moment after they closed the door behind them Korra heard the two of them talking intensely, albeit muffled so she couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying. Still, Korra could guess what it was about.

A pang of jealousy hit Korra. Oh well, she tried to tell herself. They’re not hurting anybody. Korra chose a room near the front of the servants’ quarters. It was sparse and dusty, but that didn’t really bother her. Some of the framed photos of the Northern Water Tribe Capital were kind of nice, actually. And the bedspread was cute. She blew out some of the dust with airbending, then plopped down on top of the blue quilted bedspread. As she closed her eyes, she thought about how she missed Naga’s soft fur. Then she thought about how she missed ... well, whatever it was she had with Mako.

Maybe if I’d loved him more I’d have been able to get through to him. Korra wrapped her arms around a spare pillow, curled herself into a ball as she squeezed it. Maybe if I’d been stronger ...

At some point the tension in Korra’s body relaxed, her mind wandered and she fell asleep. She was back in the red room. She was a Yin again, and she was hungry, hungrier than she’d ever been before.

The door opened, and she – Aang – struggled to push himself up from the bed. From across the room, Zuko closed the door behind him. The turn of the lock reverberated throughout the large room.

“W-Where ... where’s Katara?” Aang asked. Zuko’s scent, his voice, his face ... Aang wanted all of it, and yet Korra could feel beneath it all a disgust, even a fear.

“She told me to come for you alone,” Zuko’s hands reached for his crown. His top-knot came undone as he let it fall loose. “I know how you feel, Aang. I really do, but we were lucky with Bumi and Kya. How many more years do you have?”

Aang shut his eyes tightly, pain shooting through his heart. When he opened them again, Zuko’s robes were pooled on the ground beneath him. He was crawling up on the big, red bed, and Aang couldn’t pull his eyes away from the muscles in Zuko’s arms.

“But – ”

Zuko cut Aang off with a kiss, his arms wrapping underneath Aang’s as he tackled Aang down on the bed. 

Aang’s arms and legs instinctively encircled Zuko’s body. He was wet and ready for him. “Zuko ...” he moaned.

“I’m your bondmate, too, you know.”

“But ...” Aang cried out as Zuko pushed inside him. It felt so good, like a relief and yet still something painful, something that only left him hungrier. And yet ... “But she should be here.”

Zuko growled and kissed Aang harder, his teeth occasionally grazing against Aang’s lips. “My family nearly destroyed the Air Nation. Let me help restore it.”

Korra heard moaning, but it didn’t sound very much like Zuko or Aang’s moans. A growl followed – the growl of a woman.

I should stay asleep, Korra told herself. The dream would comfort her, would keep her from her worse instincts.

“Not comfort, Korra. Understanding of ourselves.”

Korra opened her eyes.

~*~*~

They’d left the door unlocked. Perhaps they meant that to be an invitation.

Asami and Bolin’s bodies were hidden under covers, but Korra could see the cast-iron bedframe shaking as she opened the door. Korra had taken off all of her clothes below her waist except for her underpants, and the wood flooring felt cold and gritty beneath the soles of her feet as she walked across it. She moved slowly at first, as if hesitating. Then she gulped and grasped onto the covers, whipped them away.

Asami and Bolin looked back at her. A new wave of their scents filled her nostrils, made her hard. When she looked at Bolin, a fresh wave of doubt hit Korra. His large eyes were half-opened, half-glazed over. His hair was disheveled and covered in sweat. He looked desperate, lost. Not like Asami. While her hair clip had slipped down her hair in the lovemaking, and most of her lipstick had rubbed off, she still seemed aware. There was a fire in her green eyes that Korra had never seen before.

Korra kissed her first. Our second kiss, she thought, even though the first one was never meant to be real. Asami’s tongue skirted into rather than explored her mouth. Korra imagined biting Asami’s lips, and the thought made her clitoris twitch. When she was done, she kissed Bolin, and this time she did bite.

“I’m sorry,” Bolin whispered as she pulled away. The pale skin was turning red where she had bitten him.

“Don’t.” Korra said. She was the one who had something shameful to feel. 

Asami started thrusting into him again. Bolin’s head lolled back. Moans vibrated in the back of his throat. Korra, meanwhile, ran her hands along Asami’s waist. This was a stupid thing she was thinking of doing. She couldn’t even justify it as helping someone – Bolin was the one who needed it. And yet ...

I’m more likely to get him pregnant, Korra told herself, but that seemed like a cop-out, even if true.

Asami let out a small, satisfied moan at Korra’s touch, and that was enough for her. Korra pushed down her underpants and rubbed her engorged clitoris between Asami’s thighs as she thrust into Bolin.

“Oh ...” Asami moaned. Korra buried her nose into Asami’s hair, delighting in the mix of shampoo and her unique pheromones. The smell wasn’t anything like Mako’s, and yet the same combination of Yin and Yang was there, driving Korra to lust.

_Do you think we’re doomed to be the way we are?_

Asami had asked that. And now Korra had Asami’s smell in her nose. Her smell mixed with Bolin’s. The warmth of her body wrapped around Korra’s sex. Bolin’s and Asami’s fluids mixing together with hers.

Korra knew bits and pieces of Aang’s unique marital situation, knew the story of how he loved Zuko, but not in the way he loved Katara. It could have been a sense of responsibility that brought Tenzin into the world but Korra knew it wasn’t just that, it would never be just that.

In the myths, Yins and Yangs were bonded by their souls, searched throughout their lifetimes to find the other half of theirs. Yet where was the soulbond when you loved an in-between? How could you protect an in-between? Or the ones you loved when they weren’t yours to keep?

Asami broke off her rutting. She bent down so her head was between Bolin’s legs. One of her arms hugged his thigh while her free hand encircled his penis. Asami pumped it as her tongue darted between Bolin’s cheeks, licked the fluids there.

Bolin let out a cry of pleasure. “Please,” he moaned. “Please, more. I’m so close. I’m really close. I think it’s finally going to happen. Please!”

Korra felt herself shudder with excitement. Asami’s position made it easier to enter her. Asami let out a groan as Korra did. Asami wasn’t as wet as Bolin had been, but that didn’t matter to Korra. In fact, she liked how tight Asami felt, how her body seemed to squeeze on Korra’s clitoris as Korra thrust into her. Korra shut her eyes tight, thought about how good, how right it felt to do this.

I’m a good Yang, something deep within her sang. I’m strong. I’m powerful. I can breed healthy children. I can protect my friends. I ...

“Oh. Oh. Oh!” Bolin’s last word became a moan, and then a scream. A new wave of Yin smell hit Korra as she opened her eyes. She was still hard as she unsheathed herself from Asami’s sex, but for a moment Korra just felt relief as Bolin’s orgasm washed over him, as his eyes fluttered in contentment.

Asami and Korra lay on either side of him as he lay back on the bed. Korra rubbed his shoulders. This felt good – like the two of them were keeping him safe. She wanted it to stay that way.

“Are you feeling any better?” Asami asked him.

“Yeah, I ... you were really good.” He looked over at Korra, his cheeks turning red. “You were, too. I think I just needed to relax. Maybe what Dr. Auckaneck said made me feel better. Not that I really got any of it. But ... I feel a little more like there’s an end to this all.”

Korra nodded. “I’m glad. We’re going to fix this, Bolin. I promise.”

Bolin’s lips moved slightly as he made some sort of an affirmative noise. Something like a “Mmm ...” or a “Mmm-hmm.” But his eyes were closing as he said it, and then he snored.

Korra tried to relax next to him, to rest and try to persuade her clitoris to retract. Then she noticed Asami looking at her.

“What is --?” Korra started to ask, but Asami was crawling over Bolin, over Korra. Asami’s thighs rested on Korra’s lap as she wrapped her arms around Korra.

At her touch, Korra felt her heart race. She ran her fingers through Asami’s thick, dark hair, and this time she did bite her lips.

“Take me,” Asami gasped as she tried to catch her breath. “Take me to your bedroom.”

Korra obliged. Her footsteps echoed down the hall as she ran back toward the front of the servants’ quarters, Asami’s smooth, naked body in her arms. The door banged open against the wall as Korra kicked it. The bed creaked as she leapt onto it.

They kissed like a pro-bending match, both of them struggling to keep with the other’s lips, the other’s mouth. Korra’s clitoris easily found Asami’s vagina again, and Korra delighted at the sounds they made as they moved together.

One of Korra’s hands found Asami’s breast. Asami’s breasts were slightly smaller than hers, but still soft and large enough to fill her hand. I never thought I’d do this to someone else, Korra thought as she groped it, pulled and twisted Asami’s nipple. Korra had her crushes on female in-betweens before, but since she’d fallen in love with Mako she never thought she’d experience this.

“Wait ...” Asami’s hands wrapped around Korra’s wrist. “I want to do this to you.”

Korra huffed. “You don’t need to do that with me. I can take care of you.”

“I said I want to,” Asami said, her eyebrows scrunched into a frown as she said the word “want.”

So that was how it was going to be. The two of them kissed again. Korra shifted so that she was sitting up. She continued to thrust inside Asami as Asami’s hands reached up for Korra’s chest. Asami’s touch was firm as she kneaded Korra’s breasts, and Korra moaned as Asami’s long nails occasionally scratched against the darker, more sensitive skin surrounding her nipples.

“You like that?” Asami asked. When Korra nodded, Asami tried to sit up, too. She rubbed her hands along Korra’s waist as she buried her face between Korra’s breasts.

“Suck me.” Korra had her hands on Asami’s shoulders, but she pushed her own breasts together with the edges of her biceps. Asami obliged, one hand on the small of Korra’s back while the other kneaded her right breast. Asami sucked her roughly, occasionally pulling with her teeth.

“You’re ...” Korra grunted. “You’re going to make me knot.”

Asami didn’t seem to hear her. She’d moved to Korra’s other breast, was sucking her so hard. Korra couldn’t keep back a moan. When she shifted her legs she realized she was wet between her legs as well.

You’re going to knot, Korra thought. You can’t get her pregnant.

Korra grunted and grabbed onto Asami’s shoulders, pushing her away. Asami yelled out a “Hey!” in protest but Korra rutted against her hard. It felt so good, not only because of how tight and wet Asami was, but the accompanying sensation of her own hard, sensitive nipples rubbing against Asami’s breasts. When they kissed again, Korra pulled out of Asami. She rubbed the tip of her clitoris against Asami’s butt, and when she found the hole there she pushed aside.

“Ow! Wait!” Asami groaned, flailed her arms against the bedsheets as if trying to pull away, but it was too late. Korra could feel herself swelling against the even tighter walls, dampened only by Asami’s own fluids from before.

“What are you doing?” Asami moaned.

“I didn’t want to get you pregnant.” Korra said. She then was groaning herself. “Asami, I can’t ... I can’t hold it in. I’m going to – ”

She released before she could finish the sentence. Both Korra and Asami were crying out as Korra ejaculated inside Asami, filling her up.

“Oh, this ... ” Asami moaned. “This feels weird. It’s gross. It’s ...”

Korra felt her face reddening. “Sorry. Look, I’m ...”

Asami grabbed onto Korra’s front pigtails, pulled her face down to her own and kissed her. When the kiss was over Asami’s green eyes were blazing. Despite the fact that Korra could feel her arousal wane, Asami’s pheromones were as thick as a fog around her. Asami grabbed onto Korra’s hand, pushed it down to Asami’s own engorged clitoris, to her empty vagina.

“You better do something about this,” Asami growled.

Korra’s eyes widened. She stroked her hand along Asami’s shaft, circling around it and up to the tip a few times before plunging her fingers inside. Asami let out soft noises as Korra rubbed three fingers in and out of her, but they became increasingly more urgent.

“Now!” Asami was almost yelling. “Now, Korra. Make me come now!”

Korra pushed a fourth finger and a thumb inside Asami. She slowly formed them into a fist. Asami had one hand knotted into the bedspread and another wrapped around her clitoris. Asami pumped it hard until she came, her yells echoing off the walls.

They would be stuck together for a while now. Korra wrapped her arms around Asami as they lay down together. After she pulled that trick on her, Korra supposed trying to act like a courteous Yang was the least she could do. They lay together for a few minutes in silence, although Asami sometimes shifted uncomfortably – from their position they couldn’t exactly get too close. Then Asami whispered into the dark.

“I guess we’re all cheaters now.”

Korra sighed deeply. “It’s not exactly the same.”

“I know.”

It was Korra’s turn to shift away. Asami tried to lay her head back on the pillow while Korra rested her head on her elbow, which was bent beneath her head. It wasn’t exactly comfortable. And the knot was still keeping her tightly rooted to Asami. She gave up and took Asami back in her arms again the best she could.

“What are you going to tell Mako when we get him back?” Asami asked.

Korra shook her head. “I don’t know. Then again, who knows if we will?”

“Don’t you dare joke about that,” Asami laid her hands against the side of Korra’s cheeks, forced Korra to look into her eyes. “Korra, we’re going to win against Kilaun. We have to.”

Korra took Asami’s hands in her own. She wanted to believe that, she really did, but what Asami had said worried her.

What if they were doomed to be the way they were? Kilaun would say so, and these days in the battle between belief and instinct, instinct was winning.

Korra frowned. She strained against the knot which bound them as she shifted closer to Asami and kissed her.

Well, if it came down to nature, and if it came down to power, Korra knew who was stronger.

~*~*~

“Your balance is great! Just a little further!”

It was early morning again, and time for more Air Acolyte training. Jinora couldn’t help but feel proud of herself as she watched Shuchun leap from pole to pole in the airball court. Shuchun may never be a fierce fighter, Jinora thought, but when it came to form, to grace, she was getting better and better every day. When it came time to hit the last pole, Jinora saw Shuchun’s legs wobble for a moment. Jinora held her breath, nervous, but Shuchun ended up clearing the gap.

“That was amazing!” Jinora bent a cushion of air for Shuchun as she descended from the pole. “You didn’t fall once.”

“Thanks,” Shuchun said, giving Jinora another weak smile and she wiped her hands against her borrowed Airbender clothes.

Jinora frowned and placed her hands on Shuchun’s shoulders. “Hey, you really should feel good about yourself. You ...”

Shuchun sighed loudly. “I’m not doing anything.”

Jinora tilted her head. “What? Yeah, you are. You’re becoming a stronger person, and ...”

“Helping myself isn’t helping my brother!” Shuchun turned away from Jinora, knotted her hands into the sides of her hair in frustration.

Jinora watched the shaking of Shuchun’s shoulders as she cried. What happened? Everything was going so well ...

“Look, I understand you’re frustrated, but this is really good for your self-esteem and ...”

“I don’t care anymore.” Shuchun shook her head and wiped her eyes. “I’ll unlock a chakra, or I’ll learn a new airbending move, but I still wake up every morning and remember my brother and want to cry. I still keep getting sick, and ...”

“Jinora!”

The girl turned to see Ikki and Meelo racing along the path toward her. When they reached her both of them grabbed one of her wrists.

“Jinora, something really, really bad just happened!” Ikki chirped as she tried to pull Jinora away.

“Yeah!” Meelo said with a nod and a surprisingly strong tug. “We’re on a top-secret mission and have no time to lose!”

“Hey, stop!” With the help of some airbending, Jinora wrested herself out of Ikki and Meelo’s grips. She stood up straight with her hands on her hips. “What are you talking about?”

“Well ...” Ikki sighed, then suddenly started speaking incredibly fast. “Okay, so, you know how Mommy sometimes listens to the radio before bed and sometimes she falls asleep? Well she did that tonight and when I came into her bedroom I didn’t realize she was asleep but she was and there was this guy on the radio and I didn’t recognize his name but he said that he took over the radio just like Amon did and he has Dad! He has Dad and Lin and we have to do something!”

Ikki’s last few words were delivered in a shriek, but Jinora was too shocked to be bothered by it. Shuchun’s loud gasp behind her brought her back to reality.

“Someone has Dad? Who? Do they have Korra, too?”

“Please, no,” Shuchun said, her hands over her mouth.

“Uh-uh,” Meelo shook his head. “The bad guy says he has Lin though, so we need to embark on a secret rescue mission right away!”

Jinora bit her lip. A big part of her felt she should protest, but she wanted to save her father and knew that their mother would never let them go. “Did the man say where he had Dad and Lin?”

“No,” Ikki said sadly. “But he said Korra needs to go where they first met before sunset.”

“I don’t know where that is,” Jinora said. Despite wondering if maybe she shouldn’t go after all, she felt an awful pit in her stomach.

“I do,” Shuchun said.

The airbender kids’ heads all turned toward her in unison.

“The grownups ... they told you that?” Ikki said.

“No, but ...” Shuchun stared at her feet as she shifted uneasily on them, her right foot moving back and forth as if she were squishing a bug. “I hear things from them ... once in a while. It’s a house near Lotus Way.”

Meelo pumped his fist in the air. “All right! C’mon troops, let’s get moving. Um ...” he turned back to Shuchun. “Where are we going?”

“Um ...” Shuchun coughed into her hands. “I don’t know how to get there.”

Ikki shrieked in frustration, pulling on her buns as she stamped her feet. “That doesn’t help us at all! How could you—?”

“Wait.” Jinora held up her hand and placed it on Ikki’s shoulder. “Shuchun may not know it but does Korra know about the message?”

“Um ...” Meelo held out the word, then shrugged. “I dunno.”

“If she doesn’t know, we need to tell her.”

“But how do we find her?” Ikki asked. “She’s been gone for, like, a day. Or something. It’s been way too long. Well, not long compared to last time, but ...”

As if in answer to their questions, the four children could suddenly hear a howling in the distance.

“What if we had help?” Jinora asked with a smile.

~*~*~

Comfort. That was what Mako felt at this moment. Comfort. As he stood behind his father – his master – with his sisters Tukiko and Tukiyo on either arm, he felt like this was exactly where he should be.

Kilaun had made his challenge in his office using a machine that overrode all radio signals. The Equalists had once owned it, but Kilaun had connections with a few free agent thieves in the city, and now it was his.

He had connections everywhere. He was so smart, so powerful. He always knew what to do.

“What if she doesn’t hear it?” Tukiko asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kilaun barked as he stood up. He cracked his hands and reached for his cane. When he spoke again he swung it back and forth before him. “Most of the news stations do their top stories at this time. By tomorrow Shiro Shinobi and all the newspaper companies’ street urchins will be screeching about it non-stop. Are preparations ready?”

Mako could feel Tukiyo sigh heavily beneath his arm, but Tukiko nodded.

“All of the cubs have been briefed ...” Tukiko’s red-painted lips curled into a smile. “Well, in a manner of speaking. Most of them are sleeping now, but come evening they should be ready to fight.”

“Good.” Kilaun smacked the butt of his cane against his free hand, grasped it. “This is a momentous night, girls. The night we show our strength, show that we’ve done what others throughout the centuries have only dreamed of.”

Yes, tonight was the night. Mako breathed deeply, a wave of excitement running through him. He watched in awe as Kilaun – his master, his love, his father – approached him. Kilaun’s warm, strong hand rubbed against his cheek, and Mako sighed as he leaned into the touch.

Kilaun smiled, and Mako felt his heart flutter. I know what I am around him, Mako thought. Everything feels clear, makes sense.

“We live in a false world, my cubs, a world of laws that stifle and deny our natural instincts. For years we’ve lived in the shadows, making a neat profit off the carnal pleasures of the hypocrites who pretend to be proper, neutered men of society in the light but release their true selves in the night. Yet that façade is crumbling.” Kilaun pulled his hand away, looked out the window into the early morning sunlight. “Balance has always been a lie. If balance was our natural state, the Avatar would have already won, and we would live in a world without war. I don’t believe in destiny, girls. I am my own man, a strong Yang, with the power to change the world. But I know now that I alone have what it takes to defeat the Avatar, to destroy the false ideal of balance for a world where the strong rightfully rule the base and weak. Tomorrow, we build the future, girls. The future of the world.”

Kilaun was still looking out the window as he waved his hands in their direction. “It will be a long day before then. You are dismissed.”

The three of them left the room, and Mako felt content as they walked up to the twins’ room together. When they were inside, however, Tukiyo violently pulled away from them and slammed the door.

“‘The future of the world?’” Tukiyo shrieked.

Tukiko rolled her eyes and stroked Mako’s hair. “Lower your voice.”

“No, no. Stop it,” Tukiyo swatted her sister’s hands away, pushed Mako onto the bed. “We don’t even like this guy.”

“Well, I don’t like you, eith—” Mako tried to finish the sentence when a blast of pain shot through his head. He groaned and pulled his legs up on the bed, turning away from him in a crouch.

Tukiko groaned and turned to her sister, hand on her hip. “Can we not have the boring crisis of conscience in front of him?”

“You don’t get it!” Tukiyo said. “I don’t care about being a thief. Or a hooker. Or even the type of person who blows up hospitals. But a revolutionary? I thought we joined Kilaun to get away from one of those!”

Tukiko rolled her eyes. “We’re taking over the underworld. Did you think we wouldn’t meet any resistance? That the leaders of the triads would quietly step aside and let us rule?”

“The triads, no. But I’m not afraid of the triads.”

Tukiko frowned. Mako watched as she strode toward her sister, their faces an inch from each other.

“If you’re going to let one defeat turn you into a coward ...”

“It’s not one defeat!” Tukiyo said. “Chief Beifong – ”

“—is in our custody –”

“—because of Mako and Kilaun—”

“—who can beat the Avatar—”

“Exactly!” Tukiko shrieked. “They can beat the Avatar. Maybe. We can’t. And what if they don’t, Tukiko? Do you want to go to prison?”

The side of Tukiko’s mouth twitched as she turned away from her sister. “We can’t think like that.”

“Why can’t we?” Tukiyo said. “We got away from the Red Monsoons when Amon captured their leaders!”

“Because we had somewhere to run to.”

“There’s Ba Sing Se!”

“Ba Sing Se is a landfill. If you’re not a kept pet of a rich Yang you’re selling yourself for two yuans in the Lower Ring.”

Tukiyo’s shoulders slumped. Mako could see that the fight had gone out of her. And why wouldn’t it? It was hard for him to remember the conversation as it was happening, but he vaguely recalled something about him and Kilaun beating the Avatar. Yes, that was true. Everything in his mind and heart said it was true. And yet ...

_They know they’re lost. There’s hope. She can win. She can save ..._

Where was that thought coming from? No, Mako knew his place. Mako knew his place for the first time in his life. They would win, they had to.

“Do you think I haven’t thought about this, Tukiyo? I’ve thought about it every day, even before Kilaun hit me. Do you think I would still be here if there were any other options?”

“There ... We don’t know,” Tukiyo shook her head and sighed. “There might be something.”

“Might be.” Tukiko shrugged. “And if you want to go looking for it, you better go now.”

Tukiyo looked down at her feet. Meanwhile Tukiko stared into space, her face hard even though Mako could see her red bottom lip trembling.

Tukiyo sighed. She took two steps and then had her sister in her arms, was hugging her from the back.

“What makes you think I could leave you?” Tukiyo asked.

A tear rolled town Tukiko’s cheek as she leaned into the hug.

~*~*~

Korra woke up to an empty bed.

It didn’t upset her. In fact, she expected it. What she didn’t expect was to see Asami still in the room, crouched on the floor with the pieces of her chi-blocking glove spread out in front of her.

A smile lit up Asami’s face as she turned back to Korra. “Oh, good! You’re awake. I need your help with something.”

“Uhh ... okay.” Korra slid off the bed, settled down next to Asami. She saw that Asami had collected their clothes from the other rooms, and started getting dressed as Asami spoke.

“I was trying to fix a watch before this happened and I couldn’t fix it either. But last night, it all came to me. I was trying to re-create what Dad did. What I should have been doing was figuring out a way to make the glove work on my own.”

“And you’ve done that?” Korra was smiling now, too.

“Well, I don’t want to count my pig-chickens before they’ve hatched, but I have a good plan now,” Asami picked up a long gold piece of metal. “Can you give me a flame? Something like a welder would use?”

Korra flicked her finger out and the flame sparked to life. Asami pulled a leather glove onto her right hand and held the gold metal piece out to the flame.

“Can you give me a little more juice?” Asami asked. Korra nodded and increased the flame a smidge. Asami pulled the metal away, the tip of it still glowing red. She pushed the glowing part directly into the generator on the back, then connected the other end (with the help of Korra’s fire) to the battery. When she put it on, the glove flickered, but didn’t spark.

“Oh no ...” Korra murmured.

Asami shook her head as she took off the glove. “It’s okay. This I think I can fix this ...” Asami pulled out a bit of the tubing near the top of the chi blocking glove, used another bit of tubing to connect it directly to the battery hanging from the other side of the glove. This time when she flicked her wrist, blue electricity sparked from the center.

The girls cheered in triumph.

“That was great!” Korra couldn’t help but pump her fist as she cheered.

“Thanks,” Asami’s pale cheeks were red as she took off the glove. “It’s really something, discovering new things about yourself. I feel more hopeful than I have in a long time.”

“That’s really wonderful.” Korra smiled. Despite all her worries she felt more hopeful too.

Asami moved closer to Korra, hugged her. Korra paused for a moment, surprised, and then hugged her back. She felt happy, like she’d done her job as a protector of her pack.

It was only when Asami kissed her that Korra pulled back.

“Is something wrong?” Asami asked, her arms still locked around Korra.

“No,” Korra lied. She pushed herself out of Asami’s grasp and stood up. “It’s ... It’s just that we have to focus on what to do next.”

“Well, sure, but ...” Asami sighed and stood up herself. “No. You know what? I’m sorry. I’ve never done the one-night stand thing before. I guess that was a bit presumptuous. I just ... Well, is it too much to ask what your feelings are?”

Korra bit her lips. She started collecting her clothes off the floor, tried to ignore the dread growing in her chest. “Teammates,” she finally said.

Asami’s eyebrow raised. “Teammates? Unless Mako was showering really well after practice ...”

“No, it’s not like that. I ...” Korra whirled back around to Asami, grabbed onto her hands. “I know I was mean to you, and I apologize again for that. But I want you to know that I care about you, and I won’t let ...”

Asami was frowning at her now. Korra let go of her hands.

“No,” Asami said. “Finish what you were saying. ‘Won’t let’ what?”

Korra sighed and turned away. “Forget it.”

Asami grabbed onto Korra’s wrist. “Korra, what’s this all about? I know you’re the Avatar, but we’re fighting Kilaun together. Why are you acting like you need to protect us? And why would you say that to me considering what happened last night?”

“Kilaun attacked Mako because of me. He poisoned Bolin because of me,” Korra pulled her hand away. “I know you’re a great fighter, Asami, but I have to be realistic and on my guard and ...”

“You’re not hearing what I’m saying at all! I’m your teammate and your friend, and even if I were to become more to you than that, I’m not a thing to be protected.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Korra said. “I respect you ...”

“Then don’t treat me like I’m part of your territory! Me or Bolin. Not because of Kilaun. Not because of anyone.”

“That’s not ...” Korra gulped. “That’s not it.” But she really couldn’t hide it from herself, especially when she thought about everything that had happened.

Asami sighed. “Look, I ... I’ve been giving into my more aggressive instincts these days, too. I realize they’re a part of me, now. I’m sure they’re a part of you, too. But if we’re against people like Kilaun, we can’t be like them when it’s convenient.”

Korra growled at that comment. “I’m not anything like him!”

“No. I hope not.”

Asami collected her glove and tools walked out of the room.

Frustrated, Korra grabbed onto a pillow, punched it a few times before slamming her head in it. Asami didn’t get it, she told herself. Nobody understood the pressure she was under, everything she was responsible for. It’s not about being a Yang, Korra told herself. It’s not personal. It’s because I’m the Avatar, it’s because I can’t fail.

A sob escaped Korra’s mouth. But wasn’t it personal? Wasn’t it the possessive, Yang aspects of her nature that spurred what she did? Wasn’t it in response to Kilaun?

Korra’s eyes were blurred with tears as she sat up on her bed, rubbed them dry. When she opened them, a monster stared back at her.

It was a spirit – Korra could tell that much. It glowed with a light that was more white than yellow, although its eyes and beating heart through its translucent body were a bluish dark that seemed to hypnotize Korra, to bring her feelings of fear and betrayal to the surface. The spirit stared at her and howled, and Korra shrieked as she crab-walked back on the bed away from it, thrust a blast of air in its direction.

“Korra!”

Bolin was calling her name. Korra looked in the direction of his voice. Then, seeing nothing, turned back to the spirit. It was gone.

“Korra, are you awake? Korra!”

“Just a minute!” She said, jumping into her boots as she careened toward the door.

“About time!” Dr. Auckaneck complained as he stood next to Bolin.

“Dr. Auckaneck found an antidote!” Bolin exclaimed. He had his hand balled up into fists at the sides of his neck in excitement. “I still feel a little off and he says I’ll smell weird for a few days, but I’m going to be cured!”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Korra reached out to grab Bolin in a hug, but Dr. Auckaneck snapped up his cane before she could.

“Ahem. Perhaps you could do without tempting hormones for a time, Avatar.”

Chided, Korra lowered her arms, but she still wasn’t happy about it. “You can trust me. I don’t see you keeping your distance, doctor.”

“I’m too old for that nonsense. By the smell of him this morning you clearly are not.” Dr. Auckaneck shrugged. “Then again, I never understood why so many tell the young to sow their wild oats in their youth and then condemn them for doing just that.”

Despite the semi-affirmation, Korra could feel her cheeks turn red anyway. Bolin’s were red, too. “Well, anyway, thanks for your help, Dr. Auckaneck. I know you’ve already done a lot for us, and I really appreciate that, but could you come to Air Temple Island and give your antidote to Shuchun?”

“I’ve already made a small stockpile of syringes for Bolin. You can use it on the girl as soon as you see her. But I’m afraid it’s not all good news, Avatar.” Dr. Auckaneck reached into his robe and pulled out the morning paper.

~*~*~

“We can’t walk into another trap again.”

“They have Tenzin now! And Lin!”

“So they’re just going to hand them over! What if Kilaun’s already brainwashed them?”

“Well, I ... I ... Urgh! I don’t know! Korra, what do you think?”

The three of them were out on the front lawn of Dr. Auckaneck’s house. After Korra asked the two of them what they thought she should do, Asami and Bolin descended into the same circular argument. Korra sat on a stone, her arms wrapped around her knees, and watched them as they paced back and forth.

“I don’t know what I think,” Korra finally said as she uncurled herself. It was strange, a part of her felt like she should be losing her mind over Tenzin and Beifong being in danger, but after so many weeks of being shocked and horrified by Kilaun she felt drained of any capacity for shock. The ever-burning, calm anger inside her had become a companion now. Yet sometimes when she closed her eyes she could see that spirit and his long, dark teeth ...

“Asami’s right,” Korra said, shaking her head. “We can’t walk into another trap. And they’ve lied to us before. The only way to beat them at this point is to find them before they find us.”

“But we still don’t have any leads!” Bolin quailed. “That article couldn’t find any witnesses who saw Tenzin or Lin being taken out of the hospital, and none of the radio stations have either.”

Asami rubbed her chin, squinted her eyes as she thought. “What if someone at the hospital helped them escape?” She pulled a syringe out of her pocket.

Bolin stepped closer to look at it. “That’s the syringe you got from the dealers.”

Asami nodded. “And the hospital’s name is on it. Maybe they’ve been the suppliers for the Pack?”

“It could be, but ...” Korra scratched the back of her neck. “Why attack the hospital as a trap for Beifong, then? I mean, that’s what it had to be, right?”

Bolin shrugged. “Maybe someone was ready to tell on them? But ... I don’t know. It could be anything.”

Korra sighed. “I guess it’s the only lead we have, though.”

When Korra didn’t say anything more, Asami approached her. Korra didn’t look up as she felt her hand on her shoulder, although Asami’s natural scent so close to her made her stomach tighten a bit.

“I really think we should do this, Korra,” Asami said. “If you don’t hear anything I say, hear this.”

Korra sighed. What else could they do?

~*~*~

It required a level of stealth to get into the hospital – guards were posted not only around the blast site but throughout the parts of the hospital that were still active through the crisis. Still, it was a huge area to cover and if the police scanner in Asami’s car was any indication, the department spread fairly thin and on high alert after Chief Beifong’s capture.

Korra found an open window two floors up from the street. It took some effort to glide into it with Bolin and Asami holding tightly onto her shoulders – they bobbed along the gusts as Korra tried to climb higher into the air – but they landed inside safely.

Korra and Asami made their way out into the hallway first – their fists at their sides but still cautious, Bolin lagging a few steps behind them. Within a few minutes they’d reached the blast site.

“How much longer until we need to be at the bar?” Korra asked Asami.

“Well, night is still a long ways away, but if we want to get to the club before any bystanders show up, we have about ...” Asami checked her watch. “Three hours. Should be plenty of time to find clues, if there are any.”

Bolin sighed as he pulled open one of the few undisturbed drawers in the hollowed-out room. “I can’t imagine we’ll find anything the police haven’t.”

“They’re looking for terrorists,” Asami said as she opened the cabinets. “Not a drug connection.”

Korra’s eyes scanned the room, followed the destruction left by the fight. It led her back out into the hallway where she saw the track marks of Lin’s feet, then the hole in the floor. She looked through it to see the surgery room – a place of pristine whiteness now marred with scorchmarks and hollowed out chunks of the floors and walls.

“Wow,” Korra whispered under her breath as she stepped inside. She sniffed the air – the scents were thinning now but they’d all been there. Kilaun. Tenzin. Lin. A very, very faint hint of the twins’ perfume.

“Mako, too.” A feeling she was trying so hard these past few days to ignore came back again – something between longing and sickness.

Korra was pondering the possibility of trying to retrieve Naga and bringing her here – like all Yangs Korra could do some limited tracking but Naga would really be able to cut through the rubble and smoke– when she heard footsteps behind her and felt an unfamiliar Yin scent in her nose. Korra tried to be quiet as she turned around to see who was in the hallway. If a hospital worker or doctor found them, they decided they would tell the truth but they all agreed the longer they were undiscovered, the better. When Korra saw the man in the white lab coat, she relaxed for a moment.

Then he pulled a chi-blocking glove out of it.

“Watch out!” Korra yelled as the hospital worker rushed into the room.

It was enough time. When Korra got inside, Asami had the man pinned by throat against the wall, his glove on the floor and her own sparking in front of him. With a stomp, Bolin had some rubble ready to slam into his face as well.

The Yin man didn’t look like much of a threat. Despite the initial anger in his green eyes he grunted helplessly when Asami dug her hand in deeper. 

“Somehow I doubt you’re hospital security,” Asami sneered. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t need to tell you anythi – Hey!” the man yelled as Korra reached into his lab coat pockets.

She pulled out syringes, held them up to the light. “What is this?” she growled, even though she knew the answer.

“S-Suppressants!” the man said.

“Oh really?” Korra took off the plastic coating and pointed the needle in the man’s direction. “Then I suppose you wouldn’t mind an injection of it? An extra suppressant shot just gets flushed through the system, right?”

Bolin nodded, a smile on his face. “Right.”

“No! No!” The man struggled to squirm away from the needle but Asami held him steady. “Please, no! I’m ... I’m allergic.”

“A hospital has antihistamines, doesn’t it?” Asami asked.

The man groaned. “Okay, I admit it. They’re not suppressants. They’re heat inducers.”

Korra nodded. She guessed if the Pack was getting the second-most wanted drug from the hospital they’d be getting the most wanted from it as well. “How did you get these?” Korra asked.

“I – We made them.”

“You made them here?” Bolin’s mouth dropped open. “Here at the hospital?”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Asami asked.

“Me and a few other med and lab techs. We’ve always had an under-the-table business operation with some of the packs and triads – a few suppressants and painkillers go missing and we get a few extra bucks to supplement our lowly grunt worker positions – but we’ve just gotten a windfall from the heat inducer. Kilaun’s already given us more money in a month than we’ve seen in a year. I’d hoped he’d give me more if I caught the Avatar’s friends for him. I’ve ...” The Yin gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down beneath his pale skin. “... I’ve got a new baby at home with my parents. My wife left me two months before the birth. I’ve failed the entrance exam into med school three times. This is it for me.”

Asami sighed; she sounded almost sorry.

But Korra’s brow furrowed. Something seemed off to her. “You failed the med entrance exam three times but you made your own drug?”

“Made it! I didn’t create it. Does every baker make his own recipe?”

“So, who wrote the cookbook?” Asami asked.

“Yeah!” Bolin chimed in. “Wait, what? I don’t get it ...”

The Yin shook his head. “I don’t know. The other med techs and I found it in some doctor’s notes. No name on them. We think the hospital was going for a public version. Something that wouldn’t last for weeks but ... well ... I think you guys know what happened. The formula’s far from stable but Yangs still want it.”

“So,” Asami shook her head in disgust. “My last question – what are you doing here?”

“I was going to destroy the last of the evidence. When I saw you I thought I’d bring you to ...” His green eyes darted between all three of them. “I thought you’d be alone.

Korra sighed. “You’re in a lot of trouble, you know?”

The Yin’s eyes were watering. “My kid ... Please. I’m all he’s got.”

Korra looked at Asami, who was frowning back at her and shaking her head. Bolin just shrugged. 

“I know the Police Chief. Show us how Kilaun got in here undetected and I’ll put in a good word for you.”

The Yin glared. He obviously didn’t see it as an equitable trade, but he led the three of them out into the hallway, into a broom closet with a hidden door, and then many, many flights of stairs.

~*~*~

Tenzin and Lin had woken up hours ago in the room where Mako had been held – their hands and wrists bound in platinum and Lin stripped of her metal armor. They’d spent most of the hours in silence, determined to wait out whatever Kilaun had in store for them. That was one thing that was good about Lin – her calm in the crisis was keeping him calm as well.

“I just hate feeling so useless,” Tenzin said, leaning his head back against the wall.

“I know,” Lin exhaled. “But we just have to be patient. Kilaun has strength and connections on his side, but he’s hardly a criminal genius. He’s overconfident and trying to pull off something beyond his means. Eventually his luck’s going to run out.”

The door opened with a creak and Kilaun stood within the frame, his smile glinting like fangs.

“Tenzin. Chief. So honored to have you as guests. Are you comfortable? No? Well ...” Kilaun reached into his jacket, pulled out a syringe. “Consider a game of mine to pass the time. And if you don’t ...”

The twins walked in behind Kilaun, each leading two of the four tied-up children into the room – Shuchun, Ikki, Meelo and Jinora.

“ ... I don’t think I have to tell you what happens then.”

End Part Twelve.


	13. Chapter 13

~*~*~

Korra awoke alone, in the dark, chained to a chair, with a pain in her head.

The first thing she remembered upon waking were the Yang Avatars. Kuruk, Kyoshi, Kyung – so many Yangs’ names starting with that “K” sound, weren’t there? She saw visions of them with their lovers. Some with only one lover, like Kuruk, but others with many, like Kyoshi. Korra tried to put them out of her mind, re-trace what had happened.

The med tech – ugh, why didn’t any of them ask him his name? – had led them down to the tunnels beneath the city. The Pack’s true base wasn’t far from the hospital – that much Korra had realized, and all of their previous investigations tended to circle either here or Lotus Way, so that made sense.

The problem had come when the med tech tripped a wire running across one of the tunnels. The three of them had all leaped back – fists up and ready to fight – when it snapped, but after a few moments of nothing, they all relaxed. The med tech had said the trap must have failed.

They believed him until Bolin suddenly dropped to the ground, unconscious. Asami fell next. Then Korra didn’t remember what had happened.

“You’re not very good at following the rules, are you?”

Korra blinked as the lights switched on. Kilaun stood before her, a remote control in one hand, his cane in the other. Most of the room was still in shadow – but the place felt big, bigger than she could have anticipated.

Korra growled in her bonds, her shoulders edging up around her ears. Kilaun thrust his cane under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

“This all could have been avoided if you’d have given me what’s mine, Avatar.”

“Never,” Korra said. “You’re a pimp and a criminal and you don’t own anybody.”

Kilaun laughed, began to pace in front of her. “Oh, Korra. It amuses me when you argue for lofty ideas that you don’t believe. Perhaps the Equalists are right when they say you never cared about non-benders.”

Kilaun suddenly stopped in his tracks, pointed with the hand that held the remote. “No, wait ... there is at least one non-bender you care for. One you may even consider ...” that unfriendly, fang-like smile appeared on his face, “yours?”

Kilaun pressed a button. Korra flinched as a spotlight flickered onto the far left side of the room. Asami and Bolin stood on their knees, their wrists and ankles tied up, inside of it.

“Korra!” Asami called out, but as soon as she did, Tukiyo stepped within the light and whipped Asami with water across the face.

“I smelled them. Everyone can. You’ve been a bad little girl, haven’t you, Avatar?” Kilaun laughed as Korra glared at him. “Ah, you’re offended. Why? Haven’t your escapades taught you yet about your true nature? No. Well, perhaps this’ll be a new reminder.”

Another push of a button and a spotlight lit the center of the room. There was a cage inside the light, one meant for two armadillo lions – it even had a dividing wall in the center of the cage that could be pulled up by a pulley attached to the ceiling above it. Tukiko held the other end of the rope.

But the cage itself held Beifong and Tenzin. Her airbending master was on the far right side, and Korra reeled back. When she sniffed the air a flush of Yin hormones hit her face. Lin was on the left side, and Korra could vaguely see beads of sweat running down her face.

The realization of what Kilaun had done nearly made Korra’s heart stop. “The heat inducer. No ...” she snarled at Kilaun. “You monster!”

Kilaun slid the remote back in his jacket. “Oh, Avatar, he begged me to do it. It was either that or his children.”

Korra’s eyes widened. No. “Where are they?”

“In ...” Tenzin’s voice sounded raspy, hoarse. “In the dungeons beneath this room. Kilaun’s victims are guarding them, including Shuchun’s brother.”

“Korra ...” Lin spoke between her teeth. Kilaun had removed her armor but she still dug her heels into the wood floor of the cage as if she were trying to earthbend them into the ground. “What Tenzin and I had was ages ago, and I wouldn’t give in for the likes of this lowlife. Whatever he threatens you with, don’t worry about Tenzin and me.”

“How noble, Chief. Although I think I smell otherwise. I wonder how you’d explain it to the wife of Councilman Tenzin if you did fail.” Kilaun laughed to himself and walked over to the cage. His eyes met Tenzin’s. “Do you ever miss a Yang’s thrall? Was it difficult to play at one for so long? Funny, considering your mother’s breeding habits you didn’t try to keep both.”

Tenzin snarled. Kilaun poked him hard in the ribs with his cane. “Which one said no? Was your wife insecure or was that crone over there too proud?”

A blast of air blew out from the cage. Tukiko fell to the ground, scrambling to hold onto the rope. While Kilaun only dropped to his knees, his wolf’s helm blew off his head. Kilaun roared and rushed at the cage. He knocked his cane against the bars, rattling them. The vibration was loud enough to even hurt Korra’s ears. 

Kilaun bent to the ground, grunted as he pulled his helm back on his head. “You should be mindful of your children, Councilman Tenzin.” Kilaun strode toward Korra, pushed the cane back under her chin. 

“Do you understand the situation, Korra? Those children you see as younger siblings are all mine. Your mentors, mine. Your Yin’s been mine ever since my girls put the heat inducer inside him, and your perverts are now mine, too. Do you know why?”

Korra gagged as Kilaun pulled the cane away. She had to force the words through her gritted teeth. “Because you’re the superior Yang,” she said, hoping the derision came across in her voice.

Kilaun laughed. “And what makes a superior Yang is an understanding of human nature, Korra. Not trying to hide it behind propriety and rules. But perhaps you already know that ...”

With his words, Kilaun took out the remote. The last light flicked on.

Korra breathed heavily when she saw Mako in the ring of light. He was standing up, but as he approached her he bent down on his hands and knees. It wasn’t like Tenzin’s induced heat – Korra couldn’t smell his hormones until he had crawled closer to her, and even then she could still smell Kilaun’s scent on him.

Yet Mako was between her knees now, his hands on her thighs as he pushed himself up off the ground. His hands wrapped around her waist.

Kilaun’s hands slid in back of Korra’s and, with a click of a key, the metal manacles that held her hands behind the chair clanged against the floor. Korra’s hands moved to Mako’s back, and they held each other.

“Korra, don’t!”

“Stop it!”

“Korra, you have to stay focused!”

Asami’s voice. Lin’s voice. Tenzin’s voice. They all fell away as Mako’s lips met hers, as the scent of his hormones filled her nose. He was here again. And he was kissing her like he’d never kissed her before. All the hesitation he once had, all the playfulness that would dissolve into fear, had burned away beneath what smelled to Korra like lust. She wanted him. She loved him. She really, really did love him.

No, she told herself. No, it was a lie. Korra put her hands on either side of his face, tried to look into Mako’s eyes.

She’d expected them to look dead, to look empty. Yet there was a softness to his eyes, a slight smile on the side of his mouth that reminded Korra so much of that day in the South Pole when she ran into his arms and he spun her around.

“My mistress,” Mako whispered, and then the look was gone. It was replaced by something that looked fierce and angry. When they kissed again, Korra could feel her body heat rise, a tightness between her legs.

“He can be yours again,” Kilaun said, his mouth an inch from her ear. “Not all Yang chiefs in the Northern Water Tribe married Yins. Some married Yang women and took concubines. They submitted to their husbands but whetted their appetites in secret. You act as if you follow society’s rule of repression, of what they call ‘balance’ but ask yourself, my dear ... doesn’t it feel correct to rule?”

To rule. To have Mako like this, the way she had always wanted. The way she still wanted, deep in her heart and bones.

She hadn’t wanted Bolin and Asami the same way, but she had wanted them, and had found it impossible not to give in. There was a hunger in her, and it was something that seemed dark and uncontrollable until she gave into it. Was it worth it to fight against those instincts all the time? Did it make sense?

She closed her eyes again. The old Yang Avatars were coming back to her. Kuruk – brave and daring – in deep love with Ummi. Kyoshi – strong and fierce – the leader of her warrior lovers. Kyung – cruel and angry – waiting for hours upon hours for his love ...

Korra looked again in Mako’s eyes, looked for a very long time. The lust shone in his hazel eyes ... and yet the more she looked, the more she could sense that deadness there, that coldness. She leaned in closer to him, as close as she could.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Mako opened his mouth to speak, his lips trembled. “Hel—” he groaned, but his plea was choked in a growl. Mako fell forward, his fingers digging into Korra’s thighs, and then when he looked up he opened his mouth.

Korra kicked the ground, sending her chair falling backwards as Mako’s fire breath sailed over her head, knocking herself out of the way and Kilaun to the ground.

“No!” Bolin cried out. Korra could hear sloshing as Tukiyo’s water whip wrapped around him. “Mako, stop!”

Kilaun growled as he got up. Korra braced as she felt him grab onto the back of the seat, lift it and her into the air. He expected to toss her across the room, but as she flew through the air she went into the Avatar State and spun, bending the air around her and ripping the wooden chair apart in the subsequent tornado.

Part of Korra wanted to stay in the Avatar State, to let Kilaun have it once and for all, but she had other people to worry about. When the glow left her eyes she barreled toward Tukiyo, kicking fire in her direction until the twin sprinted backwards. Another bit of firebending made Korra a dagger, and she used it to set Asami free.

“Korra, incoming!” Asami yelled. Tukiko had let go of the rope, and Korra dodged and punched at the rocks flying her way. While she did, Asami untied Bolin, used a quick kick and blast from her electric glove to keep Tukiyo at bay.

Korra’s fist connected with Tukiko’s chin when the woman got too close. Then Korra pushed past Tukiko to the cage, stomped on the ground while sliding toward it. The earthbending threw the cage a few feet in the air, splitting the wood when it landed on the ground. It was effective at breaking the cage, although not without some injury to those inside.

“What the flameo were you thinking?” Lin spat as she pulled herself from the wreckage, one of her hands clasped over her nose. Meanwhile, Bolin ran to Tenzin’s side. Korra saw him whispering in her airbending master’s ear for a moment when she felt Kilaun body-slam into her.

Korra felt herself flying across the room, knocking hard into the far wall. Her entire body ached – right shoulder, stomach, knees, even her teeth had rattled, but as she forced herself to her feet she saw Lin and Asami surrounding Kilaun.

Then Mako was in front of her.

Mako picked her up by her wrists. Korra felt her back slam against the wall, and then Mako just started hitting her. She felt her fists in her stomach, groaned as he slapped her face. It hurt, but she didn’t want to fight back, didn’t want to fight him anymore. 

Through her pain Korra heard Bolin cry out “No!” and a slab of the hard concrete floor being ripped up.

“No, Bolin,” Tenzin said. “You might hit her too.”

A flare of outright anger ignited in Korra’s stomach, flowed through her body to light up her eyes. She was sick of being forced into these decisions that made her feel helpless, even if she wasn’t exactly sure of the right thing to do, she needed to do something. Korra slammed her feet on the ground and sent the concrete beneath her up into Mako’s stomach, knocking him through the ceiling. She flew after Mako, ready to finally end this.

~*~*~

“I have an antidote.” That was what Bolin had whispered. Tenzin hadn’t heard the rest ... something about that Equalist doctor whose name Tenzin was already forgetting. It was so hard to think through the heat.

“I ... I feel awful.” There was the ache in his unused womb, a wetness in his underclothes which makes him feel gross and humiliated. His head hurt, too. That wasn’t a normal symptom of heat but it seemed to add up to his overall malaise, anyway. When Tenzin looked around the room he saw Lin and Asami battling with Kilaun and the twins.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, sir,” Bolin said. “Just hang in there.”

“Bolin!” Lin’s voice broke through Tenzin’s daze. He tried once again to bury the old, intimate memories of himself and Lin together, although it was hard to keep them out of his mind in this state. “Get Tenzin away from here, there’s a stairwell in the back with a door. Then down the hall is where he’s keeping the kids. Go!”

Bolin hesitated. He had Tenzin’s arm draped over his shoulders. He started to walk him to the door, but kept looking back at the fight.

“Here,” Bolin said. He put a syringe into Tenzin’s hand, then ran into the fight. Bolin screamed as he leaped and landed on the ground, sending concrete jutting up from the ground and into Kilaun.

The giant man sneered as he braced against the stone, knocked it away. “You dare, you worthless little worm?”

Bolin responded by throwing more concrete in Kilaun’s direction. Lin caught Tukiyo in a makeshift stone prison, then Asami zapped Tukiko in the back. As the twin fell to the ground, Asami shot a glance toward the new fight between Lin, Bolin and Kilaun, and then ran to Tenzin’s side.

“Will he be all right?” Tenzin asked as Asami led him out the door and down the stairwell.

“I think he needs to be there,” Asami sighed. She helped Tenzin raise his robes to give himself the shot. “I think this takes a while to work.”

“Do it,” Tenzin nodded. “Then we’re going to save my children. All of the children.”

Tenzin understood needing to be in a certain fight, even if you might not be ready for it.

~*~*~

The second – or was it the ground – floor was wood, but Mako’s legs were still shaking as he stood up. Korra stood across from him, fists raised in front of her face.

“You ...” Mako held onto his forehead with his hands, stumbled toward Korra. “You rejected me ... You’re weak. You’re repulsive. You’re not a real Yang.”

The fire was easy to dodge – at first. Korra bobbed and weaved as Mako advanced, throwing fireball after fireball at her. Practice, Korra told herself. This is just pro-bender practice. But then there would be those moments where Korra would glimpse his face, see the pain in it, like something was trying to break through.

Her thoughts in that moment were enough to distract her. The fire hit her stomach, and she screamed as it ate through her clothes, scorched her skin. Korra growled and blew it back, burning a path of fire into the floor. Mako dodged just in time, rolling onto the floor. Korra only had a moment to be grateful before another blast blew in her direction. Korra bent backward to dodge, then caught a glimpse of something metal on the ceiling.

Mako advanced on her – Korra could feel his steps in the floorboards. Korra got to her feet but increasingly backed away from him.

“Face me!” He let out a laugh – loud, ugly, cruel – had he ever laughed like that before? Was this something from Kilaun or something that had always been hiding inside of him? “What? You throw me through the ceiling and now you can’t hit me? Coward! You’re a joke of an Avatar. You’re a joke of a Yang. I don’t love you – who – ” Mako gulped. “Who could ever love you? You ruin everything!”

The fire barreled toward her, but this time Korra took control of it, forced it up into the ceiling where it triggered the fire sprinklers.

There was water all around them, pouring down from the ceiling in a gush. Korra gathered it around her with her bending, spun it into a circle around her before sending it in Mako’s direction. Mako tried to deflect, burning the water away. For a split second Korra could see him try to send electricity toward the ground, but it fizzled out uselessly as Korra encased Mako’s body in ice.

Mako sputtered, tried to counter with a fire breath, but Korra advanced, bending a gush of water into his mouth. Mako gurgled, growled and Korra could already see smoke coming from the ice pillar as she touched Mako, placing one thumb on his forehead, and the other on his heart.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said, tears in her eyes. Then she slipped into the Avatar State.

She’d done this so, so many times, but never like this. It wasn’t dangerous to return bending like it was to take it away, but she had Avatar Aang’s memories inside her, could see him taking the power away from Ozai as she was now taking it away from Mako. Take his energy into yours, find the source. Only this time instead of opening up, re-lighting it, she’d be snuffing it out like a candle.

This is what I need to do, Korra told herself. It’s not forever, only until we can turn him back to normal. Memories of being bent back under Amon, of feeling something inside her being strangled and dying, sat at the edge of her memory, made her want to throw up and cry all at once.

At first Mako’s energy fought back against hers. His chi flowed out through his body. Flame burst from his hands, exploding the ice encasement and scorching his clothes for a moment – burning holes in his pants and vest – until the sprinkler system smothered it out again. Korra held her grip harder, tried to work quicker.

And then, just as suddenly, Mako’s energy stopped fighting her. His hands raised to her wrists, and then held her them there.

“No!”

Korra ripped her hands away. Mako cried out and fell on his hands and knees. He raised his head, crawled to her, stumbling occasionally on the wet floor.

It was him. The real him. Had she done it? Was she too late? Korra fell to her knees, wrapped him up in her arms. 

“No, no.” Mako tried to push her away. “Why? Why didn’t you do it? I ... I tried. I couldn’t stop myself. Sometimes I didn’t want to stop myself. Korra. Korra, where’s Bolin? What have I ... What have I done?”

“Shhh ...” Korra tightened her grip around Mako. He hugged her back, sobbed into her shoulder until he passed out in her arms. She kissed and licked his cheeks. The bare flesh of his shoulders and stomach felt cold in her hands.

~*~*~

These weren’t like any children she knew.

The four of them – Jinora, her siblings, and Shuchun – had their hands tied behind their backs and their feet bound together as they sat on a hard concrete floor, surrounded on all sides by Kilaun’s victims. Jinora was looking at the boy in front of her – he couldn’t have been a year older than her, but he had a deadness in his eyes and a tightness in his chin that made him look years older.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” Meelo piped up. “We’re trying to help you!”

Jinora felt a hand slap against her face. Another kid punched Meelo in the stomach.

“Leave them alone!” Ikki protested.

“Shut up!” said the kid in front of her. “You’re our prisoners, so you listen to us.”

Shuchun was sitting next to Jinora. During the time they were here she’d been quiet, even as she shook so much that she almost seemed to vibrate the floor beneath the both of them. However, the kid yelling at Ikki startled her, making her shudder and start to cry.

Another kid laughed at her. “Hey, look at this. Jiayi’s precious little baby is crying.” She lifted up Shuchun’s chin, poked her hard in the cheeks. Her voice was mocking, grew progressively meaner as she spoke. “Aw, look at the precious baby’s tears. They’re so cute. You going to wet yourself, you stupid baby? Are you going to pee your pants because you don’t have your loser brother to protect you?”

“Stop it!” Jinora yelled at them, knocked her shoulder against Shuchun. “Come on, stand up for yourself!”

The door to their prison buckled under a gust of wind, then burst open. Tenzin walked in, Asami close behind him.

“Daddy!” Ikki cried out.

Tenzin exhaled and looked around at the children. There had to have been about forty of them.

“My name is Tenzin, member of Republic City’s council and son of Avatar Aang. I am here to shelter and liberate you.”

The children erupted into a series of low growls.

“He’s the leader of the heretics,” cried out one of the bigger children.

“Get him!” cried another.

The children fell on Tenzin in a swarm, shooting fire, rock and water in his direction. Asami ducked as Tenzin tried to take all the bending in a tornado. Then she ran along the edges of the crowd, pushing the children away as they got near. Jinora could see she was trying not to use her chi-blocking glove, although when the burly kid came at her with a glove of his own she zapped him first, as well as the kids who had stayed behind to watch the four captives. When she was done, Asami started untying their ropes.

“I put the chi-blocker on the lowest setting. I’m still worried about them getting hurt.” Asami untied Shuchun’s ropes, scooped the sobbing child up in her arms. “Oh, honey. Everything’s okay now.”

No, Jinora thought sadly. It wasn’t okay. She was supposed to have saved Shuchun. She was supposed to have made her brave.

“Let her go, you nasty witch!”

There was a boy – light skinned, brown hair, green eyes and bandages on his feet – running at Asami. Ikki grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. Meelo hit him.

“No!” Shuchun screamed. “No, that’s my brother! Stop!”

A cry rang out, and Jinora realized it was coming from her father. He’d been knocked to the ground, and the twins stood where he had been. One of them – the one with the black eye – pointed and yelled and the swarm came their way again.

~*~*~

Kilaun had his hands around Bolin’s neck, was snorting and growling as Bolin scratched at his wrists and writhed in his grasp. Korra watched it happen as she let herself down through the hole in the ceiling, tried to keep her breathing steady. Bolin and Chief Beifong – who lay on the floor knocked out not far from the two of them – had been fighting hard, that much Korra could tell. Slabs of concrete lay shattered around Kilaun. Even now one had knocked against him and shattered against his bulging shoulders. But he was winning, he was killing Bolin.

“Fall!” Kilaun sneered at him. “I’ve brought you to your knees. I’ve proven I’m stronger. Fall, you worthless little Yin!”

“No,” Bolin choked out the word, his face turning blue. “I’ll never ... never give up.”

Yes, Korra thought. Never give up. Not to the likes of him. Not to anyone.

Korra slipped into the Avatar State, then ran. The air buffeted her as she rushed at him, fire burned from her hands like two tiny suns as she pulled her fists back toward her shoulders and punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground.

Kilaun roared like a sabre-toothed moose lion. The two of them rolled on the floor, struggling against each other with no bending but pure strength. And it was difficult. Korra would need to get away, would need to start airbending or earthbending or ...

No, no she had to do it. He’d done too much, he’d hurt too many ...

“Stop right there, Avatar!”

The twins. Korra came out of the Avatar State, looked behind her to see the young women. Tukiyo with an ice pick knife at Tenzin’s throat, Tukiko with a needle jammed into Asami’s. The children surrounded them, the ones at the front holding Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Shuchun captive.

Bolin was at Beifong’s side, was shaking her awake.

“Got a vial full of heat inducer right here, Avatar,” Tukiko said. She took a sniff of Asami. “You want to give her another go? I can make you!”

“Korra!” Asami tried to pull away. “Save Tenzin! Stop Kilaun! Whatever happens to me I’ll deal with it.”

“Oh yes?” Kilaun asked. He stood up and laughed, and it echoed off the wall. “Poison her!”

“No!” Korra screamed, reached out her hand. A vision of Mako getting bloodbent came to her mind, and she bent the air toward Asami.

She would have been too late, but a flaming, black figure leapt over the crowd of children, and the icicle and syringe were destroyed in two small bursts of flame.

Mako landed on the ground in front of the crowd. He looked back at Korra, smiled weakly. He looked like he was ready to faint.

Korra felt a stirring in her heart. She whispered his name. When she tried to run to him, Kilaun leaped in front of her. Korra groaned as she felt his arm knock against her, throw her back against the wall.

“You traitor!”

Korra groaned and looked up from where she had landed. Whatever bravery Mako had when he saved Asami and Tenzin had disappeared when he caught sight of Kilaun. He backed up slowly, trembling so hard that he stumbled over himself. Mako crab-walked away from Kilaun as the huge man approached.

“You spineless, indecisive little worm. You dare rebel against me? Fool! Pervert! I know your every evil thought, every nasty wrinkle of your simple, swine-like brain. That girl you so heroically saved is the one you threw aside. You defend the Avatar but shared the bed of my minions. You’ve betrayed them. You’ll continue to betray them. You don’t deserve their love. You don’t deserve the love of anyone!”

Korra watched helplessly as Kilaun locked his hands together, swung them above his head and then down to deliver a crushing blow.

“Stop it!”

They were the words Korra wanted to scream, but they came out of Bolin’s mouth. Bolin rushed in front of Mako, bent the concrete up and around himself and Mako as he covered Mako with his body.

Then the room erupted into bedlam.

~*~*~

Mako looked up at Bolin as his younger brother crouched over him, his arms tensed as he tried to hold up the concrete. It shook as the children bent projectiles at their shield.

Bolin smiled like it was painful. “How ... how you doing, big bro?”

The corners of Mako’s mouth turned down in sorrow. “I’m ... I’m so sorry. I don’t remember everything I did, but I remember what I said to you. And I know I was under Kilaun’s control, but he used my own thoughts and feelings to turn me into ...”

“Bro, um ... I forgive you and I did a lot of messed up stuff, too but ...” Bolin winced as the concrete was ripped away from him. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Oh ...” Mako looked around at the kids surrounding him, then leapt to his feet as ice flew past him. “Sure, no problem.”

~*~*~

They were all okay now, but Korra wasn’t.

Lin was back up, fighting with Tenzin to defeat the twins. Mako and Bolin were battling against the children, trying to stay defensive as they attacked. The airbender kids were also in the fight against the crowd, but Jinora was only fighting with one child – a brown-haired boy with light skin and green eyes. Shuchun stood behind her, her eyes filled with tears.

Kilaun faced her, and he laughed.

Korra ran at him, as fast as she could, the Avatar State overtaking her. When they met they knocked against each other, gripped onto each other’s hands. Korra could see sweat running from beneath Kilaun’s wolf’s helm as he pushed back against the force of her power. He snarled. As he pushed her back, she screamed and kicked a foot forward, knocking him up into the ceiling.

She came out of the Avatar State as Kilaun fell to the ground. As he was getting up, Korra realized that some of the children in the crowd had stopped fighting, were staring at her. A black-haired, dark-skinned boy was whispering in the ear of a brown haired-girl, pointing to Korra.

“She hurt him!” someone in the crowd said.

“She made him fall down!”

“The Avatar is winning!”

“No, see! That’s why she’s dangerous!” said the boy fighting Jinora. “We can’t trust her! We can’t trust any of them!” He pointed to Mako as we said this. “We have to fight for Kilaun!”

Jinora shook her head, blocked the boy’s hit with a blast of air. “Jiayi, you have to stop!”

“No!” Kilaun was up on his feet by now – hunched over, snarling at Korra, but up on his feet. “This day is ours, my cubs.”

Tukiko screamed, “Fight!” Yet Korra didn’t have any time to concentrate on that. Kilaun was coming at her again.

Korra went into the Avatar State again. She bent the four elements to her – the air around her, the fire within her, the earth from below her and the water that had pooled in the room above her. Kilaun hurtled himself through the shield as it was being formed. He screamed as the elements froze, burned, knocked against him but he reached Korra, clasped his strong hands around her neck. Korra screamed and kept turning, the Avatar’s Shield of Elements hurtling them around the room like a ball in the pachinko machine. She heard children scream as they rolled and bounced through the crowd, both of them trying to strangle the other.

Korra struggled as they tumbled together, feeling the Avatar State wane with every strangled breath. She had to break the stalemate, had to put him down now. But how?

_Let go ..._

The words were in her head, but she didn’t think them. Avatar Aang. She could feel him in her mind – him and someone else.

Korra let go of Kilaun, but before she felt the breath being squeezed out of her she opened her arms, drew them in and her shield imploded upon the both of them. Pain suffused her – the burn of fire, the pierce of water, the hardness of earth and the pounding of air, but Kilaun let her go.

They fell to the ground. The battle had broken up the larger fight, and everyone was staring at the two of them.

Korra got up first – painfully and on shaky legs – but she got up first. She picked Kilaun up by his necklace and front of his shirt – by the clothes that were a mockery of her people – and she looked in his eyes.

“I hate you,” Korra hissed.

Then she started punching him.

For Asami, who he hurt first. For Bolin, who he poisoned. For Mako, who he raped in both body and mind. Kilaun’s eyes turned black. His nose snapped beneath her knuckles. He spat blood in her face.

“Korra, stop!”

Tenzin?

No. She kept punching. She wasn’t going to stop. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve any kindness, any mercy.

Korra was vaguely aware of the twins running to Kilaun, of Beifong tying them up in metal cables and stopping them. Mako winced and turned away. Bolin held him as he did so. Asami ran toward her, but Korra pushed her away, continued to punch Kilaun.

_No, Korra. This isn’t the way._

I’m not you, Aang.

_This isn’t for you, Korra._

Kyung. What did he know? Of course this wasn’t for her. This was for Mako, and ...

“No!”

The word broke through the room – shrill and high-pitched. When Korra looked up, she saw where it had come from.

Shuchun sat on her knees amidst the crowd, tears streaming down her face. Her brother – that was her brother attacking her the whole time – had been knocked down by Jinora, was sobbing in fear as he looked up at Korra beating Kilaun. Korra’s eyes scanned over the crowd, saw the other children looking at her the same way.

The image of a woman standing in front of a crowd, a knife held to her chest, came to Korra’s mind. No, Kyung was right. This wasn’t about her.

Korra looked down at Kilaun. He stared up at her with half-lidded eyes, drool and blood hanging out the side of his empty mouth. She let him go, let him fall on the ground.

Then Korra approached the crowd. The children reared back as she stepped forward, so she hung her head and spoke.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Korra said. “I was hurt, and I lost my temper. It’s hard not to be angry when you’re hurt. It’s hard not to be scared.”

The children stared back at Korra, not all believing her – some held up their elements or their chi-blocking gloves in fear – but all were attentive. She caught a glimpse of Tenzin and Lin Beifong. They stood at the edge of the crowd, each of them holding a twin captive. Tenzin gave her a small nod.

Korra took a deep breath. “I know you’re hurting. For some of you, I imagine that’s all you ever knew. So many of you have lost parents, lost homes, or maybe even never had them to begin with. I know this man here gave you something resembling stability, maybe even the closest thing you’ve ever felt to love. But what this man offers you isn’t love or caring. It’s selfishness. He’s used you all for his own purposes, and he won’t stop.

“He may have made you think that you don’t deserve love, that this abuse is all you deserve because of who you are. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not true. You’re all as important as any other person on earth – Yin, Yang or in-between. All humans are important. We all may be different, and it’s good that we’re different, but that doesn’t make any of us better than one another. It doesn’t mean any of us should be placed over one another – not for our gender, not for lack of money, not for our nation or heritage, not because of who we love, and not because we’re Yin or Yang. We’re all equal, and we all need to protect one another, to help one another, to know that we’re worthy of each other’s care and love.

“I ...” Korra sighed, tried to take in the feeling of the children in the crowd. The children had all lowered their hands. Some of them were crying. Jiayi was looking at his sobbing sister, seemed to be remembering something.

“I can’t promise you a life free from pain anymore, from hunger or want. Nobody can promise that. I can’t promise a happy ending, even though you all deserve it. But I can promise you the possibility of something better, the possibility of health and love and happiness. I can promise you change, not always easy, not always good, but an end to this and the start of something new.” Korra held out her hands to the children. “Will you take that chance? Will you follow me?”

Korra kept her hands out, stretched her fingers toward the children. Some were still afraid, some were still angry, but the deadness that was once in their eyes, in Mako’s eyes, was gone. A little dark-skinned girl put down her chi-blocking glove, walked toward her.

“No!” Kilaun growled, tried to stand up and ended up stumbling. “She lies! She wants to control you for herself. What did the Avatar do for you when the bombs were falling on our city? What has she ever done to ease your suffering? Nothing! I am your salvation. I am your father and leader. I am ...”

He stopped talking. They all stopped talking. There was a change in the room, in the air, something that made the hairs on the back of Korra’s neck stand up.

The monster was back, perhaps had never left Korra. Shrieks and screams from the children echoed throughout the room. So, they could all see it, Korra thought, her heart pounding. Then again, as frightening as the monster was, it was the way it seemed to be able to look inside your heart, to pull up everything that was terrible and ugly, that really scared Korra.

Darkness in light – that was what the monster looked like. That was what Korra felt like – her sins of the past year were fresh in her mind, every infidelity and nasty thing she said. The others must have felt it too. Most of the children had fallen to their knees, were screaming or crying. The airbender children, Shuchun and her brother were holding on to each other; so were Mako and Bolin.

“Avatar Korra,” the thing said. “I am no monster, no more evil than you. To balance, one deals with evil as well as good.”

“Why ...” Korra gulped. “Why are you here?”

“You have grown in a short period of time in spiritual power, Avatar Korra. Your confusion and pain drew me to you, led me to this feast. A reckoning is coming, Korra, a confrontation between your kind and mine, brought about by dark alliances. I offer this warning to you as thanks for my feast.”

“What reckoning?” Korra watched as the spirit floated toward the children. “What feast?”

The dark-skinned child, the one who had approached Korra, screamed as the spirit floated toward it, but as soon as it touched its face the child relaxed, blinked as if confused. Korra ran to the child.

“What happened?” She asked the girl.

“I ... He took some of my hurt away,” the girl said.

Korra wanted to ask what she meant but instead she watched, transfixed, as the spirit moved to every child, touched their face for a moment and left them content before moving on. It visited every child in the room, saving Jiayi and Shuchun for last.

But it wasn’t just done with the children. It stopped at the twins, too. Tukiyo closed her eyes as the spirit touched her face; tears rolled down her cheeks as it flew away. Tukiko struggled against it, but when it was done she was outright sobbing.

Then it stopped at Mako. Bolin tried to shield Mako from it, but Mako pushed him aside, looked into the spirit’s eyes. Mako breathed deeply as it looked at him, the fear clearly visible on his face.

“No, thank you,” Mako said. The spirit nodded and floated away.

Then it approached Kilaun. Its dark eyes glowed, it bared its teeth, a dark blue light.

“Stay back!” Kilaun barked at it. He picked up his cane, waved it back and forth at the spirit as he tried to crawl away from it. Yet the spirit kept moving forward, reforming after the cane sliced through it again and again like water. When it was close enough it grabbed onto Kilaun’s face, only this time it didn’t let go, roared and flowed into Kilaun’s nose and mouth.

“What ...?” Kilaun tried to stand up and fell to his knees. He screamed and clawed at his head, knocking off his wolf’s helm. “What is this feeling? Why am I ...? No, No, I’m not afraid. I’m never afraid! I’m the strongest Yang in the world, I ... What did you do to me, Avatar? Answer me, you witch!”

“I am not a witch, and you are not the strongest Yang in the world. We’re just people.” Korra got down on one knee, looked in his eyes. “This spirit is named Tong. It feeds on the agony of the suffering, but not through them – through their sufferer. Through you.”

Kilaun was trembling now. He was on the ground, almost curled up into a ball. “This fear ... this fear is overwhelming.”

“Yes. It’s the fear you caused. It’s what you’re going to have to live with, until Tong leaves you.”

“No!” Kilaun screamed in agony, tore at his hair. “No, I’m not. I’m not afraid. Yangs are never afraid! Yins are the ones who are afraid. Filthy, wanton Yins. Disgusting little ... Can’t even fight. Can’t even protect themselves. Born slaves.” A tear rolled down Kilaun’s cheek. “Slaves like her! Witch! Harlot! You couldn’t protect me! You never protected me, mother! Filthy, disgusting ...”

Kilaun screamed again and threw himself at Korra. Korra leaped back, out of his grasp, as Kilaun writhed on the floor. Some of the children screamed and grasped for each other. Out of the corner of her eye Korra could see the twins hugging each other too.  
“Balance? What balance? There is no balance. There is only rule. You know that, Avatar. You still rule your pack!”

“No,” Mako stepped forward. “She doesn’t.”

Korra looked back at him. Kilaun met his eyes, growled.

Mako remained undeterred, continued to speak. “All this time you’ve been talking about how you’re bringing us back to our natural state, about how you’ve proven that Yangs naturally rule Yins, but you’ve never naturally ruled anything. Tukiko and Tukiyo followed you because you were better for them than the triads and the Equalists. You used threats and hypnosis to get a bunch of children to follow you. Yeah, you might have stolen me away from Korra, but you had to use drugs – drugs you didn’t even make! Maybe we’re not naturally drawn toward balance, maybe equality is all artificial, but so is your inequality. And if you can choose inequality, if you can create inequality ...” Bolin and Asami were walking toward Mako. When he noticed them he took their hands in his, “I’m always going to choose the opposite. We always will, together, with our friend.”

Mako smiled at Korra, and Korra smiled back. He knew and understood, Korra realized that now, and they’d figure out what that all meant later.

“No, you’ll see ... you’ll see how weak you are. How weak you all are. You’ll fail her, you’ll fail her just like my mother failed ...” Kilaun screamed again, almost threw himself toward Korra.

Tenzin and Lin Beifong ran to her side, but Korra held out an arm, held them back. She watched as Kilaun crawled the last few feet toward her, grasped onto her ankles.

“Will ... will it ever leave me?” Kilaun asked, his eyes wide, entreating.

Korra wanted to kick him in the face. There was a part of her who thought of her own agony regarding her friends, the agony Mako must be going through even now. But on the other hand, Kilaun was still a person suffering, had perhaps always been.

“One day,” Korra said. “When it chooses to do so.”

Kilaun laid his head at her feet, muttered a “thank you.”

Tenzin laid his hand on Korra’s shoulder, squeezed it softly. “I’m proud of your choice,” he told her.

It was hard to feel that way, but then again, it was hard to feel anything at the moment.

~*~*~

Tenzin and Lin Beifong dragged Kilaun away by his shoulders, deaf to his soft crying. Korra and her friends followed, each of them with a strong grip on the arms of one of the twins. After a moment, the children followed them outside.

Police backup was called, plans were made. There were orphanages that could take the children in for the next few weeks, and Lin Beifong said she would try to work with psychologists in the city to figure out what would be the best future for them.

A police car was ready to take the heads of the pack away. As Kilaun was being pushed inside, he suddenly turned back, screamed at the twins.

“Your fault! It’s your fault I lost! I should have fed you to Amon! You ugly, perverted, disease-ridden harlots! Who are you going to open your legs for in prison, now?”

“Get in the car!” Beifong screamed at him. She gave him a swift kick in the butt that sent him hurtling into the car, then slammed the door behind him.

As soon as it happened, Tukiko suddenly wrenched herself from Mako and Bolin, started bending wildly at them.

“Get away!” Tukiko screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Get away from me! You can’t stop me. You ... you can’t!”

Korra made a move to slip into the Avatar State, to take her down, but then Tukiyo wrenched away from her, ran to Tukiko and held her as well as she could through her handcuffs.

“Tukiko, stop!” Tukiyo begged.

“No! No!” Tukiko cried as Tukiyo wrestled her to the ground, sobbed as they lay there together. “We can’t ... We can’t lose ...”

“We did lose, sister,” Tukiyo hugged her sister tightly. “It’s okay ... We’ll be okay ...”

Tukiko sobbed loudly, shook her head. “It’s all over. We’re dead. We’re dead.”

“It had to happen.” Tukiyo kissed Tukiko on the head. “We knew it would. We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay, together.”

A year later Korra would wonder what Lin Beifong had been thinking in that moment, if she had seen regret or a memory in the chief’s eyes. But she knew she saw Mako and Bolin hold hands in that moment.

They put the twins into another police car, Tukiko still sobbing as they went. As Beifong closed the door, Mako approached her.

“Can ... Can you do anything for them?”

Beifong’s eyebrow raised. “I’m not going to ask what happened, but I would have thought ...”

Mako lowered his gaze, looked back at Bolin.

Beifong sighed and crossed her arms. “In this job you have to make a lot of choices about when to levy justice and mercy, especially with a case like this. I usually think the former is fairer in the long run, but ... if they testify against Kilaun, and at this point they have no reason not to, maybe we can do something.”

Mako nodded solemnly. “Thank you, Chief.”

As Lin Beifong went to get into one of the police cars, Tenzin was helping lead the children away into buses. His children went with him, as did Shuchun and Jiayi.

Another police car came to take Korra and her friends back to Air Temple Island. They all squeezed together in the backseat, none of them willing to take the front seat and be alone. Korra and Mako sat in the middle, their hands clasped together, with Asami on Korra’s side and Bolin on Mako’s side.

Korra squeezed as close to Mako as she could. The stench of Kilaun still lingered on him, but with them were other smells – the water, the smoke, and ultimately Mako himself, free at last. As the car drove on, Mako laid his head against Korra’s. Asami’s head was on her other shoulder, Bolin’s head on Mako’s. There would be much more to think about soon, but for now Korra closed her eyes as the car drove on, basking in the smell and love of her friends.

End Part Thirteen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang in there, everyone! We're not done yet!


	14. Chapter 14

It was early morning – the fog dissipating, revealing a sky that was bright but still gray– when the boats carrying Team Avatar, the airbenders and the children arrived at the docks.

“Naga! Naga!” Korra called as she walked off the gangplank. She hadn’t seen her polar bear-dog in days, only now realized how much she missed her.

“She’s not here.”

Korra looked down to see Ikki and Meelo at her side.

“Yeah,” Meelo chimed in after his sister. “We took her out to try to find you and she led us to the hospital.” He hung his head. “Then Kilaun captured us and when she couldn’t stop him we told her to run away and get help.”

“We’re sorry,” Ikki said.

Korra sighed sadly and pet their heads. “Don’t worry. It’s hard to hide a polar bear-dog. She’ll find her way back. She always does.”

Korra then noticed Jinora lingering a few paces back from her sister and brother, her head bowed and her hands behind her back. Korra wanted to ask what was wrong, but Tenzin called them away.

Well, there was a lot to do right now. A lot of things had to be put aside.

The children were herded into the cafeteria at Air Temple Island. Korra, Bolin, Asami and the airbenders – Mako had been called away – assisted the Acolytes with serving food. Some of the children were humble and grateful, others angry and sullen.

“I still don’t trust you,” one boy said when she put a plate of greens and tofu in front of him.

“It’s okay,” Korra said as she gave the next child their plate. “That you’re safe and that this is the start of a change for you is what matters.”

The kid still seemed cynical, but his mood seemed to improve as he ate.

When they were done serving food and Pema and the other Yin Acolytes started taking the kids away to be bathed and given new clothes, Korra found Shuchun. She was sitting in the far corner of the room, her head resting on Jiayi’s shoulder.

“Can I sit here?” Korra asked.

Shuchun nodded, a happy smile on her face, as Korra took a seat across from them.

She looked at Jiayi. “Care to introduce me?”

“Oh!” Shuchun spread out her hands toward him. “This is my brother, Jiayi. Jiayi – Avatar Korra.”

“Pleased to meet you,” he said. They shook hands. “Hey, um, I used to bring Mako his food when Kilaun captured him. He always said you’d come rescue us. I’m sorry I didn’t believe him. I wanted to. He seemed to understand. I just ...”

Korra nodded. “It’s okay. I get it.”

“Thanks for doing so much to help Shuchun and me. I ...” He looked at Shuchun and she gave him a hug. “I’m glad she found you.”

Korra smiled. “Thanks.” She lifted her head up slightly and saw Jinora standing near Shuchun and Jiayi’s table.

“Hey, Shuchun.” She laid a hand on the little girl’s shoulder and cocked her head in Jinora’s direction. “I think our friend wants to talk with you.”

Shuchun looked over at Jinora. She nodded and got up, took a few steps in Jinora’s direction.

Then she suddenly ran back to Korra, gave Korra a kiss on the cheek.

Korra rubbed her cheek, surprised, as she watched Shuchun and Jinora leave together.

~*~*~

“I want to apologize to you,” Jinora said as she and Shuchun spoke on the grounds in front of the cafeteria.

Shuchun blinked. “What for?”

“When I heard about what happened to you, I wanted to help. I had this crazy idea that by making you into an Air Acolyte I’d teach you how to be brave, and maybe even how to fight if you needed to do that. I realize now you weren’t ready for it, and that I probably pushed you too hard. And I got frustrated. I realize now I should have let you get better on your own, and I’m really sorry.”

When Shuchun didn’t respond, Jinora stared at her shoes. She muttered another apology and said she had to leave when Shuchun spoke.

“Don’t go,” she said. “And don’t be sorry.”

Jinora turned back to Shuchun, tried not to cry. “But – ”

“My brother was missing. I was never going to be happy while he was gone. I couldn’t come in and fight people who had hurt me so much before, especially when there was so much more to lose. But ... I did have to speak up when I saw Korra might have killed Kilaun. I hated him, but ... I don’t know. I didn’t want that. Does that make sense?”

Jinora nodded. “I think it makes a lot of sense.”

“But ... now that Jiayi’s back, we need to think about what we want to do. And ... thanks to you, I know what I want now.” Shuchun smiled slowly. “I already talked about it with your dad. After Jiayi and visit some more doctors and get better, we’re going to the Western Air Temple and I’m going to be an Air Acolyte.”

“Oh, Shuchun!” Jinora threw her arms around her. “I’m so happy!”

Shuchun nodded into Jinora’s shoulder as she hugged her back. “Me too.”

Jinora squeezed Shuchun tighter. Finally, she thought. Finally.

~*~*~

A few hours later, Korra caught Mako coming out of the men’s bathrooms. He was wearing a new set of his old clothes, but his scarf was missing. He still had a whiff of Kilaun and his own smell on him, but mostly he smelled like soap and shampoo. 

“Oh,” Mako said when he saw Korra, his cheeks turning red. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Korra approached Mako, slowly. She wanted to hug him but wasn’t sure if she should. “How are you feeling? And where’s your scarf?”

Mako sighed. “My scarf’s in the wash. Kilaun drenched the thing in his scent. Some of the forensic guys I talked to told me it made the hypnosis more effective. As for how I’m feeling? Kind of terrible, actually. But I took a lot of baths and threw up a few times so that helped. I guess.”

“I’m sorry,” Korra said. “I ... I’m glad you’re back with us, and that I didn’t have to ...”

Mako took a step closer to Korra. She held out her arms as if to hug him, but Mako suddenly drew back. He put his hands on her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. They stood for a moment like that, both with their eyes closed.

A smell hit Korra’s nose. She and Mako looked over to see Bolin walking up the pathway. He waved – an awkward wiggle of his fingers.

“Hey, bro ... Korra ...”

Mako sighed and looked back at Korra regretfully, his hands still on her shoulders. “I think I need some time alone with him.”

“I understand,” Korra said, although she couldn’t help but feel sad as she watched the two of them walk away together. After a few steps, Mako reached out and hugged Bolin as he walked – his right arm over his younger brother’s shoulders.

“Would you like to talk to me instead?”

Korra smiled. Tenzin was approaching on the walkway behind her.

“Sure,” she said.

They walked along the pathways in the general direction of the training area. The sun was high in the sky, now, and winged lemurs zoomed overhead.

“Mako’s gone through a lot,” Tenzin said when they’d gotten far enough away from the living quarters that they could talk in private. “He may need some time to process what has happened.”

“I know,” Korra said, her eyes locked on the ground.

Tenzin raised an eyebrow. “I mean it. I said that to Mako after my mother told you she couldn’t give you back your bending, but he ran after you anyway.”

Korra smiled to herself. “He’s a good guy.”

Tenzin shook his head and sighed. After another minute he said, “You really had me scared.”

Korra’s smile faded. Her steps slowed to a stop. “To be honest, I scared myself, sometimes. I let Kilaun bring out the worst in me, almost up until the end.”

“I know. But I’m proud of you for resisting when it mattered.”

“Did I?” Korra asked. “I know that spirit helped the children, but their trauma’s not over. And my friends ...”

“They’ll forgive you. Korra,” Tenzin laid a hand on her shoulder. “I ... What Kilaun did to Lin and I brought up a lot of memories for both of us, not all of them good ones. Many of us make mistakes while we’re young. What’s important is how we learn from them.”

Korra stared back at him. “I don’t really understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“My mother and fathers had their troubles, but I know they were happy. I know you’re capable of loving more than one person, but do it because it’s what you want, not because you don’t want to hurt people. ... Sometimes you try to do that and end up hurting both of them anyway.”

It wasn’t clear advice with a clear solution, but perhaps it was what Korra needed to hear right now. They continued to walk together, the contemplative master and student.

~*~*~

Mako and Bolin had gone down to the surf to talk.

It felt ... healing to be there. The walk down the stairs to the water had exhausted Mako (all the physical stuff was catching up to him, he supposed), but the waves from the bay had a gentle sound as they crashed into the sand. Their salt smell overpowered Bolin’s scent – and his own. For several minutes the two of them just sat together, watching.

“That skyline never gets old, you know?” Bolin said.

Mako couldn’t help but flinch. “I remember thinking that before ... before everything that happened.”

Bolin looked at Mako. “Hey. Why’d you tell that spirit ‘no’?”

Mako stared at the sand between his feet, shook his head. “Part of me didn’t want to keep running away from the things that hurt me. Part of me ...” He held his head in his hands. “Part of me felt like I didn’t deserve it.”

Bolin sighed. “I ... I know you weren’t yourself when you said and did all those things, bro.”

“I wasn’t not myself either.” Mako leaned back with his legs spread out in front of him and his hands in the sand. He had a sour look on his face. “It’s so unsettling to me how comforting it was to just follow the messages Kilaun put in my mind. I ... I wanted to. It actually felt nice not to have any responsibility for once. To just obey.” He shook his head. “I’m really messed up.”

Bolin hung his head. He pressed into the sand with his thumb. “I think I get it, though. It’s ... it’s not really fair to ask an eight-year-old to take care of his little brother.”

Mako sat up and shrugged. “It’s not fair to be a six-year-old orphan with only his eight-year-old brother to guide him, either.”

“I’m not a prince.” Bolin blinked a few times, wiped a tear from his eye. “Bro, I am so, so sorry about what I did with Korra. I just ... I was just so messed up with that drug and so scared that I’d give into Kilaun and ...”

“Hey,” Mako looked over at Bolin, put a hand on his shoulder. “They gave me that thing too. I did give into Kilaun. The twins, too. I totally get it.”

Bolin stared at the sand, kept worrying at the hole in the ground. “She still loves you.”

Mako pulled his hand away. He felt a sharp pain in his chest.

“I love her, too, but ... maybe not in the way she needs. Especially now that I’ve been ... been ...”

Bolin might have gasped a bit when he looked at Mako. “You’re still the same person, bro.”

“Well, that’s not what I mean, but ...” He realized there were tears in his eyes. Mako touched them. He didn’t feel that upset, not like he had in the last few weeks. Then a memory – later he couldn’t remember which one: the touch of Kilaun’s hand, the scent of one of the twins, or maybe just the feeling of being helpless – hit his brain like a knife. He started sobbing.

Bolin had his arms around him. Mako squeezed him back, tried to make himself stop until he couldn’t anymore.

“Do you feel better?” Bolin asked when he pulled away.

Mako groaned, rubbed his eyes. He laughed awkwardly. “That ... That was embarrassing.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Bolin said sadly.

Mako still couldn’t help but feel that way. The two brothers sat on the beach together, in a way both waiting out when Mako would pull himself together. When he stopped sniffling, Bolin spoke again.

“Look, if you and Korra continue to be together or not, don’t worry about me. I don’t want that anymore.”

Mako wiped his eyes with his thumb as he looked at Bolin. “Really?”

Bolin shook his head, smiled. “I think I was holding onto an ideal of what her and I would be like together. When we actually were ... especially in that circumstance, things were a lot different. I think even if she asked I’d have to say no. There’s only so long you can hold onto the fantasy.” Bolin looked out across the bay. “Anyway, there’s a big city out there. Big world, too.”

Mako smiled. He supposed there was. It was hard to keep up that happy thought, though.

“So,” Mako sighed. “I have a story to tell you. It happened when you were thirteen.”

~*~*~

The day went on, and so did the work. Korra and many others on the island spent some time watching over and talking to the children as they met with police officers, social workers, and the heads of orphanages. They seemed to have a plan in place to take in some kids – a few others had asked to go to another Air Temple or to be sent to another city where they thought they might have family. At any rate, plans were being made, and that was important.

After dinner, Asami found Korra, placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I just want to let you know I’m going home,” she said.

Korra couldn’t help but feel a little sad. “Do you need some help with your bags?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Asami had everything packed already. Korra was still unsure why or how Asami had five suitcases of stuff sent to the island, but they were easy for Korra to carry, at any rate.

“So,” Korra said as they got to the docks. “When will we see you again?”

Asami shrugged, a wide smile on her face. “Any time you like, I guess.”

Korra smiled back for a moment, but her expression quickly turned serious. “Look, I might have apologized before, but I was completely wrong when I said I didn’t need your help and you weren’t my friend. You’ve done a lot these past few weeks for me and for my friends.”

“Our friends,” Asami corrected, gently. “But you know what? You’ve done a lot for me, too. Even when I was mad at you about Mako and I was jealous of your relationship with him, I wanted to stay in Team Avatar and help you. It gave me a purpose I’ve never had before.

“But ... this whole thing has made me realize that I can succeed outside of our team. I’ve been upset all this time because my father created and built so much, and even though he became an Equalist and hurt me and so many others, I felt like I couldn’t live up to all his accomplishments. I think it’s time for me to try to make my own, independent of him.” Asami took a deep breath, looked out at the city skyline. “These past few months I’ve been making a lot of safe choices and I’m losing money hand over fist. I think it’s time to take more risks, as difficult as it seems.”

“Well, I wish you the best with all that. I’m rooting for you.”

Asami nodded. The boat would be leaving shortly, but she didn’t reach for her bags. “And ... what about us? Do you think we should put everything that happened the other night put behind us?”

Korra sighed. “I still need to think about that, maybe talk about that with Mako. Don’t wait for me, though. It wouldn’t be fair to tie you down.”

Asami laughed. “If anybody keeps me down, it’s not you.”

She took a step forward, and this time Korra didn’t hesitate to push her away. Their kiss was light and sweet, and Korra felt a pang in her heart – but also happiness, after Asami was on the boat and they were waving good-bye.

~*~*~

“There are going to be more triads that replace Kilaun – our intelligence says some of the old gangs may be forming again – but the good news is that this bust stopped the trade of the heat inducer drug.”

Beifong said this to Korra late in the evening in the family’s dining quarters, about an hour after most of the police had gone home and most of the children were sleeping on futons in the lunchroom.

“That’s great news,” Korra said.

Beifong nodded solemnly. They had a pot of tea in front of them, and Lin looked into her own clay cup with a small frown as they continued to speak. “I’ve got men and women at the hospital under interrogation. We’ve arrested a few more people involved in the drug ring. I’m not optimistic enough to think it’ll stop demand or the trade forever, but we’re in a better place to control it if it re-emerges now, especially with Dr. Auckaneck’s antidote.”

Korra nodded, encircled her hands around her cup. “Have you been able to find who created the drug?”

“No,” Beifong said, took a sip of her tea. “Kilaun and the twins have both denied creating it, and while absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, we’ve found no evidence of drug making at any of the Pack’s hideouts.”

“I see,” Korra said, disappointed. She put down her tea and got up. “I’m feeling really tired, Beifong. I’m going to head to bed.”

Beifong nodded. “I’ll be on my way soon, too. It’s been a long day.”

Korra walked to the door, her mind whirling, when she heard Beifong call her name again.

“Korra? I don’t approve of a lot of your choices, but I admire what you did. Good work.”

Korra smiled weakly and left.

She walked out of Tenzin’s family’s quarters, onto the pathway. As she went, she stared at the ground, almost accidentally bumping into an Air Acolyte at one point. When she got near the docks, she called out Naga’s name again, knowing it wouldn’t be answered. Depressed and uncomfortable, she returned to her own room, laid down on her bed.

When her head hit the pillow she looked around her room, noticed something was missing.

~*~*~

Mako’s door was open a crack, so Korra took it upon herself to slide it open a little more, to step inside. She slid it closed behind her.

Mako was curled up on the bed, asleep. He had his arms wrapped around Korra’s overcoat, buried his face in it. He slept softly, snoring lightly as his shoulders moved up and down.

Korra sat down on the bed next to him, rubbed his side. She was about to leave when Mako started awake, sat up in his bed. When he saw her standing there, his cheeks flushed red.

“Hey,” she said with a smile.

“Hi ... um,” he held out the coat to her. “Sorry, I didn’t ... I mean ... I didn’t realize I fell asleep. I know I shouldn’t have taken this, but ...” Mako groaned and held his head in his hands. “Sorry, this is really weird and creepy.”

Korra laughed. “It’s fine. It’s kind of sweet, actually.” She took her coat back, but laid it on the footboard of the bed, sat next to Mako and held his hand. “I’d say you could have just asked me to come see you, but I guess you needed time.”

Mako sighed and closed his eyes. Korra hesitated, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. He didn’t respond.

Korra tried not to feel sad. She stood up, ready to leave. “I’ll leave you alone no— ”

Mako wrapped his arms around Korra’s waist and pulled her down to the bed. Korra’s eyes widened but in a moment she was kissing him, arms and legs wrapped around him.

“Mako?” she asked. “Are you sure this is what you --?”

“I’m tired of being afraid,” Mako said, his voice breathy as he kissed Korra. “I still feel like his. I still feel disgusting and rotten. But I’m more scared that I’ll be willing to let that monster keep me that way.”

“But Mako, I don’t want to hurt ...”

“Please,” Mako laid his forehead against hers, squeezed her chest to his. Korra got a whiff of his scent, felt her body stir.

“I have a lifetime of bad memories, Korra. I want better ones. I want happy ones. And you’re what makes me happy.”

It was hard to resist when he said things like that. Korra’s clitoris was hard, but some part of her was still holding back, didn’t want to mount him even as Mako pawed at her sides, her back. When he kissed her, he was aggressive, his teeth scraping against her lips as they yanked at each other’s clothes.

“Mako ...” Korra moaned. His fingers dug into her back like she was some kind of life preserver. Korra gripped his hands gently, still held onto them as she lay back on the bed, straddled her legs around his waist.

Mako’s cheeks turned red. “But ... But you’re ... ”

“What?” Korra asked, her mouth curling into a smiling leer. “You think a strong Yang like me can’t handle it?”

Mako laughed awkwardly, and Korra wondered for a moment if this was a good idea. She’d hoped that this would not only let Mako open up, but put her in a position where she could stop herself more easily, but was this pushing him into doing something he wasn’t ready for?

Mako curled himself over her. He cupped a hand around one of her breasts, rubbed the nipple before sucking on it, biting it. Korra moaned, her hands gripping into the pillow behind her. She closed her eyes and tried to resist the urge to mount him as the pleasure ran through her body.

Then Korra felt Mako enter her. It was strange, awkward to feel him inside her. Her body could accommodate him, but not in the way she liked, the way her body really wanted to mate. Still, as he moved inside her, slowly, she could feel her lust grow.

“You ... You feel good,” Mako murmured.

Korra had to smile. He felt good, too. Really good. You’re funny, she thought, but she didn’t say that. She reached her arms around his neck, pulled him down closer to her. He was close enough that her clitoris could rub against his pelvis. Her lips met his.

“You feel ...” Mako sighed, rested his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry.”

Korra placed a finger on his lip. “You feel good, too. You don’t have to force yourself ...”

Mako closed his eyes, shook his head. “You deserve better. If I’d been better maybe this all ...” He stopped, unable to finish the sentence, and before Korra could object Mako dug his fingers into her shoulders, started rutting inside her in earnest.

“Yeah,” Korra moaned. “Yeah, keep going. Come on. Come on, I can take it. Come on.”

Mako did keep going. He made love to her hard and fast, with his eyes closed. Sometimes when Korra watched him, his face scrunched up and his grip hard, she worried that he was in pain. Other times he would kiss her, lick her breasts or her throat, and she knew that he wasn’t.

Being mounted wasn’t so bad, Korra thought. Her clitoris ached with the need to penetrate something, and every time Mako would accidentally rub against it she would wince and want it even more. Yet she liked feeling him move inside her, liked how wild it was making him. Mako was starting to smell like himself, starting to get that scent all over her.

“Korra ...” Mako moaned her name, his voice thick and low. He growled, low in his throat, then ran his fingers through Korra’s hair, accidentally undoing the ponytail in the back of her hair. He gripped her head back, ran his teeth along Korra’s neck and bit her there.

Korra growled in response, clawed his back as he continued to pump inside her. Yes, she thought. They were rolling around on the bed now, fighting as a part of their mating. Mako snarled as he thrust inside her. Korra hissed at him between scratches, bites, kisses. Korra felt alive for the first time in ages, despite that this wasn’t ideal, despite how worried she was and how uncertain she was of the future, she felt like this was where she needed to be.

Since Mako was an in-between there was no knotting, but he got louder, his thrusts becoming more fast than hard. A fresh wave of his smell hit her nostrils. Korra was sore between her legs, her body not being able to keep up and lubricate the way it would have if she were a Yin or an in-between, but she liked the pain, liked feeling Mako so eager for her.

“Korra, I’m ... I’m coming ...” Mako moaned, although he thrust into her several more times before crying out. Mako dug his nails into her shoulders, thrust several times as he ejaculated inside her.

Korra’s blood was up, her heart pounding and her breath thick and heavy. It was hard to ignore the eager throbbing between her legs, but it was also impossible to give into it. 

As for Mako, it was like a lamp cord had been pulled and a light had gone out. The fierce, amorous Yang had become a trembling, quiet Yin. Mako pulled out of her, curled up in her arms, his hands pressing hard into her back and his face into the crook of her shoulder. Korra stroked his hair, trying to be gentle, hoping it gave him comfort.

“I’m sorry,” Mako whispered.

“Don’t be.” Korra kissed his forehead. “Don’t say things like that, like I deserve better than you. You’re great. If anything I don’t deserve you, given everything that happened.”

Mako looked into her eyes. “You don’t think I know what you’ve done? Know that I’ve done worse?” He shook his head. “I feel like there’s this ugliness inside me ...”

“In me, too.” Korra kissed his forehead. “In all of us. Even Yins like Bolin. It’ll always be there. It’s how we deal with it that counts. That’s ... that’s what this past month has taught me, maybe taught all of us.”

“Bolin said something like that,” Mako said. He cuddled up to Korra, rested in the crook of her arm. “Thanks ... Thanks for this, though.”

“Did you like it?” Korra asked, trying not to sound as insistent and worried as she felt.

“I did,” Mako said. “I just ... I’m sorry. No, it was amazing. I just ... it’s still hard to feel like myself, whatever that is. I guess this is a part of us, too. I’m not making sense.”

“It’s okay,” Korra said. She continued to lie next to him, to hold him. As they lay in bed together, awkward and unsure of how to proceed, Korra would occasionally kiss him. Sometimes she was trying to assure him and other times she was trying to ignore the lust that kept coming back no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.

“You ...” Mako moaned – a desperate, hungry sound. “Korra, your hormones ...”

“Oh!” Korra said, her face turning red. She forgot about that particular side effect. “I should go.”

“No!” Mako grabbed onto her, but not like before. All the force was gone. There was only begging, entreating.

Korra couldn’t leave after that. Still, she was careful. Korra reached between his legs, between the crack of his butt to his entrance. He was wet there, very wet. She pushed her clitoris inside him, enjoying the sounds of his moaning, the feel of him. He was very tight, so she rutted into him as slowly as she could. It’s good this way, she told herself, better not to knot him right away, as much as she wanted it.

“Do you like this?” Korra asked.

“Yes, I ...” Mako’s face scrunched up a bit, as if he was in pain. “Look at me. I want to stay with you.”

Korra did. It was awkward almost uncomfortable, looking so closely at another person when being so physically intimate. It was so tempting to close her eyes, sink back into her own sensations and forget everything about this that was unsure, that was difficult. As they mated Korra could see glimpses of Mako’s feelings in his eyes – his lust, his fear, his love and need to cling to her. She wondered what she was showing him, wondering if it made him feel better or worse.

Korra had knotted inside him now – it had happened naturally, without her realizing. Yet when she pulled the knot against his entrance, felt it get stuck there, she could feel herself nearing orgasm.

“Keep doing that,” Mako begged, and Korra obliged. She kept pulling against him as she thrust back, made her thrusts inside him harder and deeper. Mako reached down, his hand curling around his penis. He pumped it for several minutes before he came, spilling all over the both of them. Korra wasn’t far behind, filling him up with her come.

Korra reached for her coat and pulled a handkerchief out of one of the pockets, cleaning the two of them off before settling down next to Mako, both of them lying across from each other, as close as possible considering the knot.

“Are you comfortable?” Korra asked, running the back of her hand along Mako’s cheek.

Mako nodded, grabbed Korra’s hand and smiled. “As comfortable as I can be.” He sighed. “Thank you. I ... I don’t feel 100 percent better, but ... I think this was the right thing to do.”

“I’m glad,” Korra said. She watched his face. They smiled at each other for a few moments, but suddenly Mako seemed worried, the lids of his eyes lowering as he turned his cheek away.

“What is it?” Korra asked. “Is something wrong?”

“What?” Mako looked back at her, surprised. Then he shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I was just ... thinking. About the kids. The twins, too. There are so many more of them out there. I used to be one of them. I don’t think a lot of people understand what it’s like, to feel that hopeless. The triads are horrible, and they’re always going to be there, hurting kids, but a lot of officers think the victims are as bad as the triads, like in that raid at the bar when they were rounding up all the Yins.”

Korra nodded. “We did save these kids, at least.”

“There’s more we can do ... well, that I can do. That I want to do.” Mako closed his eyes, spoke as he drifted off to sleep. “I think I’m going to become a cop ...”

What he said surprised Korra, and yet didn’t at the same time. “Sounds wonderful,” she said, her own eyes trying to blink back sleep.

~*~*~

Korra woke about an hour later, when her knot had gone down. Mako snored like a saw next to her. The next hour and a half involved fitful sleeping and waking, her eyes closing for ten to fifteen minutes at a time before she woke up again, rolled over and tried to sleep.

The truth had lodged itself in her brain. It had for a long time, but Mako had been a distraction from it. Now, her lusts having cooled, she couldn’t ignore it.

Korra got dressed slowly. Underwear. Pants. Shirt. Pelt. Boots. Armband. She re-did her hair, combing it through her fingers before pushing the tails back into the cylinders, pulling on the tails to keep them tight to her skull. She walked to the door, fingers brushing against it.

Then she turned back, looked down at Mako sleeping. She returned to the bed and leaned over him, kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m coming back,” she whispered in his ear. Mako shifted in the bed, seemed to nod.

Then she left.

~*~*~

It was still dark outside, the stars twinkling in the sky, the paths of the island lit by very dim streetlamps. The rocks in the paths seemed to glow under Korra’s feet as she paced them. She needed to get off the island, couldn’t wait any longer. Perhaps she could fly, but she needed a glider for such a long distance, and she wasn’t completely sure of the way.

A howling in the distance answered her prayers. Korra’s face lit up as she saw Naga running up the path, into her arms.

“Naga!” Korra exclaimed. “Where’ve you been, girl?”

Her polar bear-dog whined, nudged at Korra insistently with her snout. Her long, powerful tail wagged behind her.

Naga needed some food. Air Temple Island may have been vegetarian but polar bear-dogs were different than people, and Pema allowed a space in the refrigerator in their family building for Naga’s meat – a mix of arctic hen, turtle-seal and pig-chickens. Korra came back to Naga, carrying it in a huge bowl for the purpose. She brushed Naga’s fur as the polar bear-dog ate.

“Feeling better?” Korra asked when Naga finished up, licking her chops and wagging her tail. “I hate to ask you this after you’ve been away for so long, but are you up for a ride?”

Naga let out a disgruntled growl, but didn’t object when Korra put her saddle back on and got on her back. The polar bear-dog ran along the paths to the stairs leading up to the island, trotted down to the docks. She knew not to hesitate and leaped into the water, swam as Korra surrounded them in a bubble.

When they reached the Republic City docks on the other side of the bay, the sky was lightening. Still, it wasn’t quite dawn yet, and while there was always something going on in the center, most urban part of Republic City, on the outskirts the city really did sleep. Most of the bars were closed. The commuters hadn’t woken up yet. As she rode on Naga through the streets, occasionally she’d see a homeless person or a stray couple walking by, or she and Naga would have to dodge a car. Yet the ride was quiet as she traveled through the Dragon Flats Borough, found the main highway through the suburbs. Dawn broke when Korra and Naga reached the open road.

They didn’t quite stay on it, although Korra tried to keep it in sight. Still, it felt nice, running through the woods with Naga. It wasn’t the bright, windy, snowy tundras of home, but being among nature seemed to cheer the both of them.

Almost. Korra finally pulled on Naga’s reins, drew her away from the road. The trees suddenly disappeared, gave way to an open, overgrown field; a swampy pond, a crumbling mansion.

“Stay here,” Korra ordered Naga. The polar bear dog grunted, but laid on the ground, her eyes closing as her chin dropped to the weed-ridden grass. If Korra had stayed to watch another moment she would have seen Naga’s eyes twitch behind her lids, her paws involuntarily kick against the ground as she dreamed, but Korra was already walking up the cracked steps, opening the door.

It didn’t take her long to find Dr. Auckaneck. He was sitting in what had to have been the main living room. It was spacious, with high ceilings. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases of scientific and medical texts and models, with a few gaps set aside for family pictures. Yet Dr. Auckaneck himself looked closed in, his heavy blue robe engulfing him even as it was dwarfed by a huge, patched upholstered chair that could have held a man three times his size.

The robes shuddered when Dr. Auckaneck caught sight of her.

“I knew you might be coming,” Dr. Auckaneck said. “I left open the door for the purpose. Still thought you’d be louder.”

“Well, I’m going to try to speak loud enough that you don’t need your horn,” Korra said, anger bleeding into her voice. “The heat inducer. That was your poison, wasn’t it? That was why nobody at the hospital seemed to know who made it. That’s why Kilaun and his lackeys didn’t know how it worked. Those were your notes they were working from! You’re the one who started all of this!”

Dr. Auckaneck stared at her, unmoved. His hands and knees shook as he reached for his cane, forced himself up.

“Did you hear me?” Korra yelled. “Are you going to answer for this?”

“Answer for what?” Dr. Auckaneck asked. He started to walk away, headed toward one of his shelves for a book. Korra followed him, close at his heels. She didn’t want him to use his poor hearing as an excuse to ignore her. “The hospital was the one who claimed my research was theirs after they threw me out for my beliefs. Should I feel responsible for what they chose to do with it?”

“You ...” Korra shook her head, felt like she wanted to scream. “You made something that hurt children, hurt the people I love, and you didn’t make any moves to stop it.”

“I owe them nothing!” Dr. Auckaneck slammed his fist against the wall. As an older man, Dr. Auckaneck had a lighter scent for a Yang but it was strong in Korra’s nose now. “I helped the lives of Yins in a way that Avatar Aang could never hope to, and it earned me the scorn of him and many others. The Fire Nation destroyed nearly half my people. I still remember the day they invaded, hiding inside while the black snow fell. And yet my sweet, beautiful daughter ran off with the spitting image of Princess Azula as soon as she turned eighteen. I wrote an essay about the unfairness of a council run solely by benders, and lost my job and reputation because of another man’s cruelty and lies. I’ve done the right thing all my life, and I’ve received nothing but scorn for it.”

“But you haven’t done the right thing!” Korra exclaimed, furious. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened during the Invasion of the North. If I were alive back then, maybe I wouldn’t trust firebenders either. But it’s not your place to make that decision for your daughter. It was wrong that you lost your job for your beliefs, but you also threw your support behind a movement that mutilated innocent benders, that tried to destroy a race of people only barely saved from genocide, and you never apologized for that. And as for your suppressant ...”

A lump had formed in Korra’s throat. She’d thought about this so much on the way to Dr. Auckaneck’s home, sometimes in anger, but now only sorrow filled her heart as she tried to give voice to her feelings. Dr. Auckaneck seemed to realize this, reached for the horn in his pocket and put it to his ear.

“When I first learned Aang was against suppressants I didn’t understand. Now I think I do. We didn’t make lives better for Yins. We made them change for us. We told them they had to alter their bodies to be normal, gave them a fee for it. And with this heat inducer we’re just continuing that. We’re changing them for us! It’s all a sick cycle of technology and power and greed and ...” Tears ran down Korra’s face. “Don’t you see what we’re doing? Don’t you feel any guilt?”

Dr. Auckaneck sighed deeply, his robe rolling up and down above his shoulders. He lowered the horn from his ear. “Did the first Yang to forge a sword feel sorry for all subsequent deaths? The Mechanist of the Northern Air Temple sold his technology to the Fire Nation, yet without him I wouldn’t be holding this horn in my hand. The Satomobiles have radically changed the ways we live, yet they run on fossil fuels that poison the air. Hiroshi Sato’s inventions have caused the deaths of many, yet in your girlfriend Asami’s hands they’ve helped save children. Human relationships alone are not the only part of us caught in the forces of yin and yang, of creation and destruction. I could write you a list of how bending has been used to hurt, to oppress and to kill, and you would tell me how firebending kept our ancestors warm, how earthbending gave us shelter, how waterbending gave us healing. Because it’s not bending, it’s not technology, but how we use it that makes it so.

“And yet .... perhaps I could have done more.”

Dr. Auckaneck put his horn in his pocket, began walking somewhere. Korra didn’t say anything, but followed him.

When he stopped, they were inside his overstuffed laboratory. Dr. Auckaneck shuffled over to a small filing cabinet. He reached inside it, pulled out a manila folder and gave it to Korra. She opened it, saw a mix of characters and numbers she didn’t understand.

“The formula,” Dr. Auckaneck said, lifting the horn to his ear. “I copied it before I left. I’ve even signed it. If I’m ever questioned ... I can explain how it works.”

Korra didn’t have to ask who would have questioned him. “We ... we have what we think is the entire drug ring in custody. But someone else could maybe find this formula, make it again.”

Dr. Auckaneck said. “Or make something similar. It’s happened before in science. Many times.”

“This would only punish you,” Korra said, closing the manila folder.

Dr. Auckaneck nodded.

Korra tucked the manila folder under her arm. She looked again at Dr. Auckaneck, buried beneath his robe, so small and frail despite his strong Yang smell. Yet when she closed her eyes, she thought of Shuchun and Jiayi.

“I won’t make you wait too long,” Korra said.

Dr. Auckaneck muttered an affirmative. Korra walked out of the laboratory, out of the mansion, tried not to look back.

~*~*~

The sun was high in the sky when Korra returned to the city proper.

She’d brought Naga back to Air Temple Island already, but didn’t follow her there. Korra figured she could make Mako and Tenzin wait a little longer. She sat on the highest point of Kyoshi Bridge, her eyes fixed on the gleaming steel and brick of the city.

It truly was a beautiful place, her adopted home. At least it was from this distance. The city had an ugly, crime-ridden underbelly. Its more powerful citizens too often had fallen to the temptation of corruption. Yet for many others, for people like Mako and Bolin and she supposed even Asami these days, that city was just the place where they worked, where they struggled, where they made memories, where life happened.

Beyond the city, Korra saw the snow-capped mountains that reminded her of home. Beyond that, there was the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation. The Northern and Southern Water Tribes. All so full of life. Life struggling against itself, yet still trying to find balance in the chaos.

It was up to her to try to find that balance, to try to right those wrongs. She had known that since birth. Yet where was her place in these new struggles? Yangs like Kilaun would rise again. Yangs like Dr. Auckaneck would make mistakes that would lead to their rise. Technology had already changed the paths they took, the paths she would have to traverse to set things right. Where would that struggle bring her tomorrow? Three years from now? Where would it bring the next Avatar?

Korra looked back at the folder. She thought for a moment of Kilaun caught in her grip, and a little girl’s cry for her to show him mercy, to let him go. It felt like the right thing to do, but did that make it so? So often people made decisions that seemed correct at the time that had negative consequences. Like Kyung and the Three Yang Kings. Like Aang taking Yakone’s bending. Like Bolin looking down the end of the wrong syringe.

Then again, mistakes also came from inaction. That’s what Dr. Auckaneck had done. That’s why Asami had said she needed to take risks.

Korra threw the folder in front of her. It whirled out over Yue Bay like a discus before she let out a blast of fire, scorching the papers. She watched the ashes flicker in the sky as they fell.


	15. Epilogue

Three weeks later, the man once known as Amon’s Lieutenant walked down the halls which held the solitary confinement cells, two metalbending guards leading him on either side.

Life wasn’t good on the inside – it never would be – but Beifong had kept her promise. He felt better without the suppressants, much more alert. He could concentrate more when he read and was stronger during his exercises. He was still at high risk for attack from the other prisoners, especially now with his hormones, and had to stay in solitary. Still, that didn’t bother him.

Most of the time.

He tried to steel himself as he was led past the new prisoner’s door, but he still flinched as the huge man lunged at him from behind the bars, a wild look in his brown eyes. The guards kept their grip on him but jumped back as well, surprised.

“I smell you!” Kilaun snarled the words, his teeth bared and drool dripping from his mouth. He’d grown increasingly filthier since he’d arrived, his long hair matted together and his nails long. “I smell you, you filthy Yin! You harlot! Tell them to let me out, you witch!”

The man sighed. In the past he’d tried to explain to Kilaun the truth, but the guards had told him to shut up and Kilaun had forgotten anyway.

“Keep it down!” the guard at his right said. He cracked a metal cable along the bars like a whip. Kilaun snarled, wrung his hands together in pain.

“Let’s keep moving,” the guard on the left said, pulling the man along. As they left, they heard Kilaun get up again, heard him scream and rattle the bars.

“No! Come back here! Come back! Mother! Mother!”

The guard on the man’s right shook his head as they exited the hallway into the elevator. He pushed a button to close the door.

“What a looney.”

“It’s not his fault,” said the other.

“It kind of is, considering what he’s done.”

“I still can’t help but feel sorry for the jerk.”

The man who was once Amon’s lieutenant wasn’t sure if he did, but perhaps many could say the same about him.

~*~*~

Three months later, the twins heard a knock on their cell door. They turned their heads in tandem to see a Yin guardswoman staring at them from the other side of the bars.

“Look alive, girls,” she said. “You’ve got visitors.”

The twins exchanged a surprised glance before turning their heads back to the guard.

“Visitors?” Tukiko asked. 

“They claim they’re you’re parents.”

Tukiyo’s eyes widened, but Tukiko snorted. Neither of them had ever seen their father, and if he suddenly became interested in seeing them they doubted he would go through the trouble of bringing the woman he’d abandoned years ago along. Still, they both got up, interested.

The twins walked to the visitor’s section side by side, a guard in back and a guard in front of them. Prison hadn’t exactly hardened them – they’d both been tough enough already – but they looked far different without their makeup and clothes, their figures hid behind black-and-white striped prison coveralls. Their hair grew loose and matted over their shoulders.

The difference hadn’t bothered them until the guards led them to a questioning room. Inside sat a thin, well-groomed, smartly-dressed peacock of a Water Tribe Yang man. Behind him sat a pale, Earth Kingdom Yin who had a hard, steely look despite her smell.

“Our parents, eh?” Tukiko said as the twins sat down in front of them. “Well, you got the races right, and for all we know you might be our dad.”

“But the Yin needs about twenty more years and a bath in a bucket of sake to be our mom,” Tukiyo finished.

The man gave the twins a cocky smile as he gripped his jacket lapels. “Varrick’s the name. Making yuans is my game, and while Zhu-Li only drinks one glass of plum wine on the weekends, you can consider me your father – of your future!”

The twins both arched an eyebrow at each other.

“What exactly are you talking about?” Tukiko asked.

“Ladies, have you ever heard of the word ‘nostalgia’? Now, I’m a man of the future. I make ships that travel across the oceans at record speeds, movers that bring a whole new medium of entertainment to the masses and hundreds of products that thousands of people didn’t know they needed until I told them they did. But some people are afraid of change! They long for the entertainment of yesteryear, something from their childhood. But they can’t get that anymore! It’s over! And, if they’re completely honest with themselves, it’s not as good as they remember. So we mix it up, make it just enough like that thing they loved while still being new, and boom! They love it! What do you think?”

“I’m ... still not sure what this has to do with us,” Tukiyo said, a finger scratching the side of her head.

“What it has to do with you?” Varrick threw up his hands, slammed one down on the table in front of them. “It has everything to do with you! Ladies, I’m offering you a one-of-a-kind work-release program in my latest venture: the incredibly new, exactly-like-you-old-fogies-remember-it Earth Rumble Seven. It’ll have it all. Handsome, square-jawed, chiseled faces. Over-the-top, boo-a-ble, love-to-hate-’em heels. Some ... skinny guys in masks, or something. And at the heart of it all ... The Incredible Bending Twins! One bends earth. The other bends water. Both gorgeous, vicious beauties of the ring. In-betweens sexy to any Yin or Yang. And they’re very close. Maybe ... closer than your average sisters?”

Tukiyo’s face scrunched up. “Why are you winking at us?”

Tukiko rolled her eyes. She’d leaned back on her chair, crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “And why would you do this?”

“Why wouldn’t I do this? Sales would go through the roof. Listen!” Varrick leaned over the table, emphasizing every other word with a tap of his first and index finger on the wood. “The public loves a bad girl. She’s frightening, but alluring. Cruel, but beautiful. A woman sees a bad girl and thinks to herself, ‘Boy, if I could just throw off the shackles of society and tell all these idiot men around me where to shove it, I’d be the queen of the world.’ You think a nerd like Zhu-Li goes to sleep every night NOT wanting to put on a sexy dress and kick men in the face? No! Zhu-Li lives and breathes pulp novels.”

“I’ve read a few,” Zhu-Li said, although the twins couldn’t tell if she meant that as an affirmation or objection.

“But you know what the public loves more than a bad girl?” Varrick leaned in close enough that the girls had to reel back from his scent. “A bad girl gone good. A bad girl who sees the error of her ways, puts away her sexy clothes and wears lighter makeup. All the allure, none of the guilt. Hell, throw in a tragic backstory and the audience will be begging for a redemption arc. She’s so beautiful and young and has so much potential, who cares if she’s blown up a hospital? So, what do you say? Six months of work and good behavior in here, then a contract of six additional months and five percent of the profits of all sales of the show, what do you say?”

The twins looked at each other, slow smiles eventually appearing on their faces.

“I’d say,” Tukiko smiled at Varrick, ran her fingers through her hair. “Which of our hands would you like to shake first?”

~*~*~

Six months later, Shuchun sat near a cliff face at the Western Air Temple, her eyes closed and her fists pressing lightly together over her chest. She opened one eye, then another, as her brother sat next to her.

“How are you doing out here?” Jiayi asked as he crossed his legs. He wore the boys’ Air Acolyte uniform, just as she wore the girls’ uniform, but Shuchun wasn’t sure Jiayi would continue to be an Air Acolyte. He didn’t have the patience or the peacefulness of personality, although he admitted that ever since they moved here he’d been learning a lot.

“I’m great,” Shuchun said. “I’ve been able to open the crown chakra safely for weeks now. There’s still a lot for me to learn, but I’m getting better and better, especially since all that spirit energy from Harmonic Convergeance washed over us. How about you?”

“I’m good. I ... Well, today I talked to Sister Amala again. She’s been helping me a lot. It’s hard, though, going over the memories. Heats are still rough for me.”

Shuchun nodded. “Me too, sometimes.” A negative and permanent side-effect of the drugs, despite the therapy. Still, the Monks and Sisters assured her she’d be safe here.

“Shuchun, I ... I want to thank you for getting help. I wish I’d been brave enough to do what you did.”

The young girl sighed, her eyelids dropping as she stared at her lap. “Thanks. I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I was able to ask for help because I was too ignorant to know the extent of what I was asking. I ... I really hope I can repay Avatar Korra one day for what she’s done for me. Her friends, too.”

The siblings sat together, looking out at the other side of the canyon and the purple and orange sunset above. The sunsets were always so beautiful here, so clear.

“Do you miss the Avatar?” Jiayi asked.

Shuchun shrugged. “Sometimes. I was a bit silly before. I’m a lot happier now.”

Jiayi stood up. “It’s going to get dark. Wanna go in?”

“Just a few more minutes.”

Jiayi nodded, leaving his little sister alone with nature. Shuchun closed her eyes again. A wind blew past her, ruffled her robes and the few loose strands of her hair

On a whim, she stood up, followed it. As she spun around, the wind blew faster, blew the dust and pebbles at her feet around her body. Shuchun kept spinning through the wind, a dance she didn’t know she was leading, laughing as the Avatar changed her life a second time.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, what a ride!
> 
> When I first got the idea for this story, I was almost annoyed. I knew what a huge undertaking it would be. Yet the story obsessed me to the point where despite the work, despite the fact that I’d never pulled off a fanfic this long before, I decided to do it. (I’d also hoped – and I think I’ve been right about this – that my strategies from once winning NaNoWriMo and my experience writing every day as a journalist would carry me through.) Besides that, I’d grown frustrated with Omegaverse fanfics that were never about the main characters’ regular lives beyond their sexuality and love interests. I wanted to write a story that could incorporate the themes, even the clichés of Omegaverse fanworks, into the equivalent of a “Book” of the show.
> 
> This has taken two years of my life. Two very eventful years where I moved and switched jobs three times each, got the equivalent of an education certificate (my piece of paper is still in the college red tape, sadly), finished a screenplay and submitted it to two contests, got dumped and found love again. So, to those who have stuck by with me – thanks for your patience. I know I George R. R. Martin’d you at times, but I swear I had good reasons. For those whose interest I lost, I sincerely apologize and appreciate the love you showed me when you were around. I’m going to continue to treasure it. Thanks for your interest, your kudos, your comments about the plot and the characters – canon and non-canon. I’m not sure which gratifies me more.
> 
> As for this ending ... I suppose I threw a “Whatever Happened to Zuko’s Mom?” at you, or perhaps just haven’t given you a cut and dried answer with what happens next vis a vis the canon ending to the show. Well, to be honest ever since the ending of Book 2 (I started this fanfic between Books 1 and 2), I’ve wondered if I should tweak the ending of the story. And said ending did get a bit tweaked – you can see it clearly in this epilogue although parts of Chapter 14 were influenced by the last scene of the canon – but ultimately the original ending to the story ran throughout its DNA, and I feel happy about (mostly) sticking to it. I hope you like it, as well. There’s a few ways you can interpret what happens next. I think a certain one is more heavily implied than others, but I also thought a more explicit P.S. wouldn’t really be fair to any of you and would raise more questions than it would answer. Besides, while a lot of fanfic is written with the goal of getting a certain two characters together, or at least testing said two characters’ love, this fanfic in the end was about exploring multiple possibilities, sometimes not always in a healthy way but exploring them nevertheless, and I feel like maybe leaving the story a bit open is a good idea, in the end.
> 
> Anyway, thanks again. After this ordeal I didn’t think I’d want to get on the saddle again, but I think you all will see me sooner rather than later.
> 
> With love,
> 
> quietprofanity


End file.
